Future Imperfect
by vendetta543
Summary: Kids have started to appear all over IS academy, nobody knows why they're there, but one things for certain: Ichika Orimura's involved somehow. Ichika x Harem
1. And so It begins

**RE-write of Chapter 1 for FI. This one's longer and goes into more detail. If you want to skip the segment with Charles, then please do so. It's just an explanation as to what he was doing with his mom before getting sent back.**

* * *

><p>In an unknown lab in a far off place, a lone figure stood chuckling at her greatest idea yet.<p>

The lab was peculiar to say the least. Various pieces of machinery cackled with life and many of them didn't look like they were exactly user friendly. The entire area was circular in nature, and the machinery circled around her like some kind of arena.

The oddest thing about the place, however, was the fact that the entire room was currently dyed in a purple light. How she could stay in there without getting a headache was a mystery.

At the center if it all, however, was her latest experiment and her current pride and joy (disregarding the IS, of course): A large portal at least 3 times her size swirling with (oddly enough) purple energy.

"Kukukukuku~ this is gonna be so much fun!" She clapped to herself in excitement, "Houki-chan will forgive me after this for sure!" She said hopefully. It had taken her so long to plan all this and make the machine. It took her 3 days. 3 days! She never spent so long actually doing something before moving on to the next.

But if she succeeded, then all of that wasted time would be worth it.

"...Tabane-sama, are you sure this is a good idea?" A soft voice interrupted her mumblings.

From the only entrance to the room, a small figure entered. Her silver hair was tied into three ponytails that went to her waist and she was dressed in a simple white dress that looked out of place in all the machinery. Her aura and demeanor didn't match her 12 year old appearance.

"Ku-chan? What's wrong" Tabane looked back at her curiously. Ku usually never doubted her on anything she did and always wholeheartedly supported her. Why was she hesitating now?

"Tabane-sama, I am not sure messing with the fabric of time is really safe. What if something goes wrong and time itself collapses?" Though she didn't realize it, she was giving Tabane the puppy dog eyes as she continued to talk and blather on about time and its consequences.

"Uh...well- Oh look, the machine's going to start! Let's talk about it later, okay!" She turned back to the portal and made a few more adjustments. If she stared at her any longer, then she wasn't sure she could go through with this.

"Haaaaa~, as Tabane-sama wishes, then." She sighed softly before going to one of the consoles off the side. If she couldn't stop her, then she could at least try to minimize any possible problems.

"Ku-chan, make sure the power output is stable." Tabane called over her shoulder as she typed into the console. All she had to do was find the one person she needed to convince Houki they were meant to be together.

All she needed to do was find their kid.

How was she so sure Houki and Ichika would get together and have a kid? She was just that confident in her sister.

The device in front of her could be accurately described as a Time machine. By definition, it was a machine that allowed one to go to either the past or the present. Whether the machine in front of her could go to the past was a mystery, but she could use it to bring something – or someone - back from the future into the present timeline. Any other person would've used this chance for something like finding lottery numbers or make them richer, but she didn't care about any of this.

There was only one thing she wanted: To gain her sister's forgiveness.

If she could find their child from the future and show it to them now, then that would convince them to get together. In doing so, Houki would gain the love of the person she loved the most and she would forgive Tabane for making it so. It was killing two birds with one stone!

"3!"

The entire area lit up with electricity as the machine powered up.

"2!"

The color of the portal changed from a deep purple to a translucent blue.

"1!"

Blurry images suddenly appeared on the surface of the portal.

"0!"

Time seemed to stop. All the machinery around them ceased to function and the electricity stopped cackling. However, the image on the portal changed. Rather than the previous deep purple, she saw a young boy no older than 7 or 8 with dark brown hair with a bokken next to him sleeping on a bed.

Despite herself, Tabane couldn't help but smile in happiness, "This is my nephew, huh? Ku-chan, take a look at your cousin!" She called out to the silent 12 year old.

Ku nodded and walked over next to where Tabane stood, "Step-brother, Tabane-sama?" She asked curiously.

"Yup, yup! Just look at him! He has Houki's expression." Now that Ku looked closer, he did look like her Aunt Houki when she frowned. It looks like he inherited some things from her mother.

"Then again, he looks a bit girly. If he had longer hair, I would've thought he was Houki's daughter instead." Tabane crossed her arms together and tilted her head to the side, apparently disappointed.

"Does he not hear us? We aren't being very quiet." Ku asked, worried.

"Nope, think of the machine as a one-way mirror. We can see and hear him, but he can't see or hear us." Tabane clarified before going back to the console, "Alright, we should be able to teleport him here once I-"

Before she could finish what she was about to say, the entire area suddenly burst to life once again.

"What's happening?" Yuki asked her.

"I think it's a malfunction." She mumbled worriedly.

The image on the portal changed. Where there was once a brown haired boy, a blond child with his somewhat long hair tied in a ponytail stood in his place.

* * *

><p><strong>French Countryside<strong>

"Mom, where are we going after this?" He asked excitedly.

The village around them was small and not like the technology advanced main cities were in France. But it was comfortable, and Charles wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Right now, they were the only people walking on the small road since it was late afternoon.

The woman he asked was a French woman holding onto his hand who looked to be in her 20's with long blond hair tied into a ponytail. She wore a sky blue summer dress and white sandals. Common wear for the hot summers on the French countryside and fashionable to boot.

"We're just going to go to Mr. Bernard's bakery for some bread. You like his fresh baked bread, don't you?" She didn't need to ask. Whenever she mentioned going to see him, he immediately asked her to buy him some of his bread every time. There was just something about how he made his dough that made his bread so irresistible. There were rumors that he even had the legendary Solar hands passed down from his family.

Based on the slight drool coming from his lips, he did indeed like the bread.

"Will we see dad after we go there?" He asked, nearly bouncing at the thought. The last time the three of them spent time together had been a few weeks from now.

"Yeah, he should be coming back from his trip soon and we can spend some time together, just the three of us." She ruffled his hair affectionately, eliciting a cheerful bout of laughter from the small blond boy.

"Do you think Anna's going to be there?" He asked suddenly.

"Mr. and Mrs. Bernards daughter? I think so, why?"

"N-No reason, I just wanted to know if she was." For some reason, he faced down and started mumbling to himself incoherently. His face took on a slight reddish tinge.

"Oh, I get it!" She smiled widely after she realized what was happening. Honestly, she expected this to happen, but not so soon. She at least hoped he would be 10 before he started getting crushes, "You have a crush on little Anna, don't you?" She teased him.

"N-N-No I don't! Sh-She just hangs out with me whenever you and dad are busy, that's all!" He denied. He was just happy to see her since they always did things together whenever he was bored, that's all! Yup, no other reason whatseoever.

"Oh? Well, I guess I can believe you. After all, you'd never lie, right?" She remarked off-handedly. _'Yeah right, I can recognize a crush when I see one. I guess you can never be too young to start' _All the same, it made her feel old. Soon he'd be getting a girlfriend and spend less and less time with them.

If only she realized how idiotic she looked worrying about her 7 year old son getting into a relationship.

A gentle tug on her hand knocked her out of her worries, "Mom, we're here." He pointed to the building in front of them.

The two of them stood in front of a small building. To the left was a clear window that displayed breads, cakes , and pastries of all sizes while the smell of freshly baked bread wafted out the windows. If one could describe it, it would be the perfect old style house like something out of a fairy tale.

"Okay Charles, you stay here and wait for me to finish. I'll be quick." She let go of his hand and made way for the door before he stopped her.

This didn't seem to be what he wanted to hear since he pouted and puffed up his cheeks, "Why can't I go in with you? I wanna see Mr. Bernard." He begged her.

"You sure you don't want to see Anna instead?" She asked teasingly.

"N-Not really, I just didn't want to be out here alone." He denied.

"Are you sure I can even trust you to go in there? Remember what happened last time I didn't keep an eye on you?" She crossed her arms. That was the sign she was going to what he and his father called "Lecture mode". They always hated whenever she got that way.

"I...went with Anna and we tried to make bread on our own in the storeroom since you two were talking so long." He put his hands behind his back and started to top one foot repeatedly. A sure sign that he was nervous.

"And what happened to you and little Anna afterwards?"

"We got covered in flour and the entire backroom got covered in a big mess?" He answered unsurely. Okay, maybe trying to bake bread just because they were bored wasn't the best idea, but Anna told him it was easy and that she did it all the time. Evidently, maybe she should've realized the difference between 'doing it all the time' and 'watching dad do it all the time'.

"Exactly." She ruffled his hair affectionately again, causing another fit of laugher from him, "Just stay here and don't go anywhere. I'll be back soon and then we can see your dad again."

"But mom! I promise I'll be good, please~"

She was about to say no before she realized he was giving her the stare. The puppy dog eyes that everyone in her family possessed was potent enough to melt even the stoniest of hearts and the coldest of souls. This wasn't an exaggeration. In fact, it was the main reason she never had to show an angry face. Her smile was enough.

"...Fine." She sighed to herself as she heard Charles cheer. She was going to have to find some way to get over that. It would get dangerous if he actually knew how to use it in when he turned into a teen.

***Cling*** ***Clang***

The sounds of the entrance bell were followed by the loud and cheerful of voice of Mr. Roberts, "Good afterno- Hey, if it isn't you two! Didn't expect you to be back so soon." He left the counter and clapped Charles on the shoulder, causing him to stumble a bit from the force.

Mr. Roberts was a well-built man in his late 20's with short blond hair who looked more like he would be an athlete or soldier than a professional baker. Don't let his size fool you, he was probably one of the most nimble and agile people the two of them knew.

Since it was still the work hours, he wore a standard combination of casuals and an apron for easy movement.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. Roberts." She replied politely, "Sorry we're back so soon, Charles and my husband decided to finish the bread in one go when I bought it a few days ago."

"Ah, don't apologize. You're my best customer right now." He replied jovially. "Well, what'll it be? The usual order again?"

"Actually, I wanted to buy some other things. Is it okay if we talk privately? It might be a big order, and I don't want Charles finding out." She pointed to the blonde child looking around the shop, ignoring their conversation. "It's supposed to be a surprise."

He nodded before calling out to Charles, "Hey Charles, why don't you go to the backroom? Anna's waiting there for her mom to come back and she's a bit lonely" Seeing Charles worried look, he added, "Don't worry. Her mom's teaching her how to bake, so there won't be a repeat of last time. We'll just talk for a bit, we won't be long"

"O-Okay then."

He nodded and made his way to the backroom. Spending time with Anna was always fun. With a smile, he opened the door to the backroom and stepped inside.

"Charles!"

The first thing Charles noticed when he entered the backroom was how clean it was without the flour covering it everywhere.

"A-Anna..."

The second thing he noticed was girls running and jumping at him at full speed were heavy. Such was the case with Anna who was currently choking the air out of him in a tight bear hug.

"It's good to see you again! I didn't think you'd be back so soon. Let me guess: You and your dad ate all the bread in one go again?" She giggled as he blushed. She'd have to take that as a yes.

Anna was an 8 year old energetic girl who was never afraid to express her thoughts. Because of this, she naturally befriended the naturally quiet Charles.

He couldn't help but notice how similar her attire was to her dad's. Only instead of casuals, she wore a long yellow dress with a white apron on top of it. Her mid back length brown hair was also in a ponytail. All in all, she looked like she was ready for baking.

"My mom and your dad are talking about something, so they told me to go here first."

"Ohh~, are they planning some kind of surprise?" She wondered.

"I'm not sure, but they told me they won't be long." He answered her as he made his way to the burning oven.

The backroom was where most of the baking was done. Last time they went here, they had gotten into a bit of an accident. Thankfully, nothing was damaged.

"Ah, don't touch that! It's still not done!" She smacked his hand away as he was about to reach for oven, "You're going to spoil it if you open it too soon!" She scolded.

"S-Sorry..." He mumbled softly. His parents always told him he had a problem with wandering off.

"It's alright. I'm just worried since that's the first batch I did on my own."

"O-Okay, sorry." He apologized again.

"Mmmmm~ I'll forgive you...on one condition!" She raised her hand and pointed at him with her pointer finger, "You have to taste it and tell me how it is?"

Charles paused for a few seconds before answering, "H-Huh? Why do I have to do it? Can't you just taste it yourself?"

She stopped pointing her finger at him and started twiddling her fingers together, "W-Well, daddy always said that bread tastes better when you make it for a friend, so I was wondering if you could taste it and tell me."

"Oh...okay, that makes sense." Truth be told he didn't get it, but he wasn't going to question it. Plus, he got free food!

It was a few more minutes before the oven sounded out, signaling that the bread was done. As quick as she could, Anna grabbed a pair of oven mitts and raised them took out the loaves of bread from the oven.

"Here, take one." She placed the tray of golden brown wheat on the table and waited for his response.

With some hesitation, he grabbed one of the loaves and quickly shoved it into his mouth, "...Yummy!" He immediately grabbed another one and ate it as well.

"H-Hey, don't take too many!" She grabbed the tray before he could get a third one out of it, "I have to show this to mommy, so don't eat too much."

"S-Sorry..." He bowed his head in regret.

"You don't have to apologize." She tapped him on the head lightly, "I asked you taste it, remember?"

"Oh yeah." He laughed slightly, "You'd make a good wife like mom someday." He added.

"W-Wife!" Her face blushed and she nearly dropped the tray she was holding.

The door to the backroom suddenly opened and his mom carrying a bag of purchases and Mr. Roberts suddenly entered the room, "Charles, we're going back~" She called out to him.

"C-Coming mom!" He stood up from the seat and quickly held onto her hand again, leaving the blushing girl and laughing man behind.

"What were you two doing there?" She asked him as they made their way out of the bakery.

Oh, she just made me taste some bread she made. It was really good!"

"She's cooking food for you already? Mn, you're already growing up so fast."

"...Eh?" He tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"It's nothing- Wait!" She let go of his hand and quickly searched the inside of the bag, "I forgot something at the bakery. Just stay here, I'll be back as quick as I can."

Charles nodded and watched as she frantically ran back to the store. Suddenly, he could hear the sound of electricity surging behind him and he turned around.

There, right in front of him, was some kind of bluish portal. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't want to find out.

"What's happening?" He heard a voice from the circle ask.

"I think it's a malfunction." Another answered.

As he was about to turn back and run, he felt himself get lifted off the ground before being pulled forward. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was his mother's worried face and her shout as she saw him disappear.

"CHARLES!"

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><p>Ichika yawned as another wave of sleepiness hit him. Studyng for the IS practical's was tough, but he managed to endure it thanks to the help of his friends. If only they stopped fighting over who was supposed to teach him, then life would've been perfect.<p>

"Fuaaaah~ I'm tired." He yawned. Class had just ended and he was about to go to the lunchroom to meet his friends. The lack of breakfast he'd been forced to take due to his training was really starting to kill him.

"Uuuuuu~ Mom, where are you?"

"Please don't cry."

There stood two boys looking no older than 7. The one crying had somewhat long blond hair tied in a ponytail was dressed in a black shirt, blue shorts and black sneakers and the one trying to calm him down had somewhat short hair and dressed in a white long sleeved shirt with black jeans and black shoes.

Ichika stopped and stared at them in shock, what were kids doing in IS academy? Were their parents here on business? If so, why were they alone by themselves?

"Mister, could you please help us?" The dark brown haired boy ran up to him while dragging along the blond haired one, Ichika noticed that the boy had Japanese features along with dark blue eyes.

"Um...sure, what's wrong?" Ichika didn't know what was going on but he couldn't just leave these two kids alone. Who knows what would happened to them if he didn't

"My friend's looking for his mom, but this place is so big we can't find her anywhere." He pointed at the blond haired kid who looked like he was going to cry any minute.

She kneeled down to his level to get a better look at him before asking, "What does she look like?" Ichika asked the blond haired child.

The other child, in comparison, had features that marked him as a foreigner. The blond hair complimented his violet eyes and pale skin well, giving him the appearance of some kind of "White Prince".

"Sh-She has yellow hair and she was wearing a blue dress. We were going to the bakery, b-ut then I suddenly ended up here." He stuttered out nervously before taking another deep breath.

"Bakery? Then why are you here?" Ichika was getting more and more confused. There wasn't a bakery for miles around, unless you counted the school cafeteria.

"Mister, where is "here"? I was asleep at home before I woke up here with him." The brown haired boy asked.

"It's a little complicated." Ichika wasn't the best person to look to, to explain to them that they were in an all-girls school. "Come on, I'm sure your mother is around here somewhere."

"R-Really?" The blonde asked him, his eyes shining with hope.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Come on, let's go to the registration office."

The three of them made their way to the registration office. Any visitors would have to go there to enter the academy. Thankfully, the halls were devoid of any people since it was lunch break.

"Excuse me, may I please see the visitors log?" He asked the secretary behind the glass window. She nodded absently before pulling up the visitors log and handing it to him. "Alright, it says here that the latest visitor was...wait a minute, this can't be right!"

The names for the visitors list for the day were blank, but that would mean that the kids had been here for more than a day.

"That's impossible. People would notice them if they've been around here since yesterday." He mumbled to himself. "Are you sure this list is correct?" He asked the secretary.

"Any visitor who wants to enter has to be on that list. If they're not there, then they're not here." She answered bluntly.

Ichika hung his head low before turning back to the two kids. How was he going to explain this one?

"Mister, is something wrong?" The brown haired boy asked him.

"Uh, there's a small problem" He started slowly. The trick to telling kids problems was that you had to do it slowly to give them time to accept and hopefully lessen the impact.

""Huh?"" The two of them looked up at him

"Your friend's mom isn't on the visitors list, that'll make it hard to find her." He told them as calmly as he could. Unfortunately, Ichika wasn't a man known for his extreme tact.

"M-Mommy~" The blonde haired boy started crying once he heard Ichika's words. "Mommy~" Tears dripped down his face and dropped down to the floor.

_'That's not good!'_ He thought frantically. "P-Please don't cry, I'm sure we can find her." He tried to calm the crying child down.

"Uwaaaaaaah~"

Unfortunately, his crying just got worse.

_'Gotta calm him down!'_

"Uh, do you guys want to get food first? We can continue searching for her later." When all else failed, distract them with something else. Food was usually the best to be used.

It was a temporary solution but it would give him some time to think.

"O-Okay, do you promise to help me look for her?" The blonde haired boy gave him the puppy dog eyes that made him gulp. It's as if they were saying 'You wouldn't lie to me, right' to him.

"I promise, don't worry." He smiled as genuinely as he could.

"We have to pinky swear on it." He held out his pinky towards Ichika before clasping it tightly against the older boy's finger. "A-Anyone who breaks promises has to eat a cluster bomb!" He proclaimed loudly.

_'That sounds dangerous...but oddly familiar.'_

Finding a temporary solution to the problem, he took the two boys to the cafeteria."What are your names anyway?" He asked, realizing he never got their names.

"I-I'm Charles." The blonde haired boy answered. His stutter seemed to be mostly gone.

"My mom calls me Yuu." The brown haired boy answered after him.

"Alright then, let's go you two."

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><p><strong>Meanwhile, at another side of the school.<strong>

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we the-"

"Please stay quiet you two, we'll be there soon"

"..."

Charlotte's day wasn't exactly going according to plan. She had hoped to spend lunchtime with Ichikam but she found these two kids wandering around the dormitory hallways and they immediately latched onto her. Asking the office didn't help since apparently there were no visitors in this day.

"Where are we going now Dunoa-san?" A voice interrupted her thoughts

The one who called her this was a young girl with brown hair tied into a ponytail wearing a green jacket and a pair of pants along with brown shoes. She looked to be 8 or 9.

"I wanna know too, France-tan!"

The other one had short light blue hair, red eyes, and wore some kind of blue dress along with brown sandals, she kept calling her France-tan for some reason (apparently he looked like one of her favorite anime characters). She guessed the girl was 10, but her...maturity (Particularly in a certain area) confused her.

"I'm taking you two to the Cafeteria, Maybe Ichika or one of the other girls will know what to do." She replied.

"Food!"

Upon hearing the word cafeteria, the two immediately ran ahead of her towards the cafeteria building.

"Hey wait!" She chased after them until she managed to grab both of them by the collar. "Don't run off, I need to make sure you don't get lost!" She scolded them as she held them by the collars.

""Okay~"" They answered simultaneously and she let go of them before leading the way into the cafeteria.

"SO CUTE~"

"THEY LOOK SO ADORABLE!"

Charlotte stopped as she heard the yells coming from the cafeteria hall, it sounded like there was a commotion inside.

"I think we shoul-" She couldn't finish her sentence before the two ran off towards the source of the noise. "Wait you two!"

Having no other choice, she ran to the inner building and saw a crowd surrounding someone's table. _'What's going on?'_ She thought to herself as the more and more people converged on the table.

"Please keep the noise down girls, you're scaring the kids." A familiar male voice said from the center.

"Ichika?"

Charlotte didn't have time to think about it before she saw the two girls making their way through the crowd.

"Why don't they listen?" She muttered to herself. Taking a deep breath, she tried to push through the crowd but was met with no success.

_'What do I do now?'_

Before she could think of another way, a loud voice suddenly yelled out.

"Everybody leave now!"

The sound of the voice immediately made the crowd scatter apart and soon only Ichika stood at the table.

"Honestly, you always get into trouble."

"Chifuyu-nee!"

*WHACK*

"Call me Orimura-sensei"

Chifuyu Orimura said this with a grimace on her face. Even the trouble her brother had been put through didn't excuse calling her by her familial name.

"Sorry." Ichika rubbed the spot where he was hit. It was always the same routine.

Charlotte figured it was a good idea to ask what the trouble was about.

"Ichika, what happ-"

"MOM!"

Charlotte was interrupted by the sound of a screaming voice.

"What-"

"Mom, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Charles ran up to Charlotte and hugged her on the waist.

"Did you just say mom?" Ichika was confused beyond belief at this point.

"I-Ichika, what's going on?" Charlotte looked uncomfortable as the little blond haired boy continued to cling to her waist.

"I thought you said you were looking for your mom?" Ichika asked Charles.

"I am! Mommy's right here!" He said without letting go of Charotte.

"That's Charlotte, not your mom." He tried to explain.

"My mom's name is Charlotte too! Her name's Charlotte Orimura, I'm sure of it!"

* * *

><p><strong>Please tell me if the re-write is better or I should put back the old one.<strong>


	2. The chaos continues

**Re-write of Chapter 2. Taking out the past versions of Ichika and Dan, possibly permanently, from the story as of now. Maybe later, but kid introductions have to come first.**

* * *

><p>Boring. It was incredibly boring.<p>

This was the general feeling that surrounded the class as the lecture continued on.

Maya Yamada was trying (and failing) to teach the class along with Chifuyu Orimura. The one who was supposed to teach the class, Kinoshita-sensei, was out on maternal leave and the school couldn't find a replacement on time. As a result, the two of them had to take her place.

The current lesson they were supposed to teach was on Equalizer's, the modifications used for the Infinite Stratos. The process and description required to both understand and properly utilize the Equalizer's were a long and difficult one, requiring a steady and committed mind.

In short: It was extremely long and boring.

So much so that when rumors of uninvited guests, namely children, started to spread around the campus, they had taken to talking about that rather than listening to the long and boring lecture.

"C-Class, p-please pay attention." The green haired teacher said with obvious distress in her voice.

"Hey, do you think..."

"...I don't know, everyone's saying..."

The whispering around the room hadn't stopped even now and Maya was getting really worried at this point. What would Kinoshita-sensei say when she came back to find her class failing the exam's all because she couldn't teach properly? Oh, she could just imagine the disappointed look and sighs she was going to get. It always made her feel bad when that happened.

While Maya was distressing herself to the possible sighing she was going to get, Chifuyu was thinking to herself, _'I know class is boring but are rumors of two kids that entertaining?'_

Neither Maya or Chifuyu believed the rumors of the two kids on campus; it was impossible for trained personnel to sneak in let alone a couple of kids. They should know, they saw what happened to two agents who tried to sneak in.

They never did get those stains out.

***FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*******

The loud sound of a whistle suddenly echoed around the room, startling everyone into silence. The class looked forward and met the sight of a very angry Chifuyu Orimura glaring at them.

"This is a classroom not a gossip column! Everyone keep quiet and listen!" She yelled out. The entire class was shocked into silence, nobody dared to utter a peep lest they make her angrier.

"Anyone who talks without being addressed first will have to run 50 laps in an IS without using the boosters, is that clear?" Nobody answered her.

"I said is that clear!" She said louder this time.

"Yes, Orimura-sensei!" The entire class answered. Nobody ever wanted to test if she actually followed through with her cruel punishments or not. Shinonono's and Alcott's treatment beforehand made it evident she didn't play favorites. She reminded everyone of a certain tyrant from Japanese history.

"A-Alright...time to continue the lesson I guess." Maya took a deep breath before continuing, "W-Well, Equalizers are additions to an IS normally used to improve battle synergy. Units are limited by the number of units they can take, from as much as 20 at once to as little as none at all."

"Equalizers are useful in the fact that they can turn the tide of a match." She turned to the screen behind which showed the image of a Rafael IS, "The Rafael, for example, is known as versatile unit due to its ability to quickly switch weapons mid-combat and give them to other units, too. Unfortunately, once the power has been lost it becomes useless till the next mat-"

"Excuse me, isn't that wrong? Someone interrupted.

All of the students looked at each other, fear etched on their faces. Did someone just interrupt the lesson without being called first? They looked at each other for a few more seconds before a cough interrupted them. They turned back to look at the source.

Sitting on the back row was a 10 year old girl, her silver hair tied into a ponytail that went all the way to her lower back, exposing her blood red eyes. The uniform she was wearing was different from everybody else's - black with a red trim and an armband for identification – and completing the odd mish mash was the eyepatch she had on her left eye socket.

She looked like something that came straight out of a kid's cartoon.

"W-What- Who are you and what are you doing here?" Maya asked her. She was trying to ignore the fact that a little girl claimed to know more about IS related subjects than her, a qualified teacher.

The girl just shrugged along with the rest of the class. No one wanted to test breaking the rule Chifuyu-sensei had set. For all they knew, this was some kind of test to see if they could follow instructions. They wouldn't put it past her.

"My point still stands, isn't what you said wrong?" She replied back. She ignored the stares the others were giving her. Proving herself right was more important.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Equalizers can be used in tandem between two units as long as they are charged, even if it has lost power one unit can still give up its shield energy to ensure its use." She said it as if it was the most common thing in the world.

Maya thought to herself for a moment, "Huh, I guess that does make se-W-Wait a minute! Who are you anyway!" She yelled out.

The girl stood up from her seat before doing a small bow, "Orimura Celeste, I was born of the union between Orimura Ichika and Laura Bodewig."

"..."

"..."

"""""""WHAT!"""""""

"Impossible! Orimura-kun didn't have sex yet, right!"

"The walls aren't soundproof, so we'd hear if he did it...right?...Right!"

"I could've sworn I bugged his room room to notify me if he did anything out of the ordinary..."

The entire class suddenly erupted into chaos until they remembered the punishment for speaking and quieted down again. Which was wise considering some of the things they were blurting out.

'_O-Orimura-kun having s-s-s-s-sex! Nonononono, don' think of it, just don't!'_ Maya shook her head to try and ignore the image of Ichika...procreating and tried to focus on the task at hand. It wouldn't do for a teacher to think that way of her student.

"Um...where did you come from?" Maya asked unsurely to the young girl.

"When my father gave birth to me, I was born." She replied back in a strict tone. Maya sweatdropped. She really didn't mean it literally.

The entire class managed to stay quiet, but every word they heard brought more tears to their eyes. Oh, the struggles of Maiden's in Love (or at least they thought they were) shall never cease.

"Um...Isn't it the opposite?" Maya pointed out.

She shook her head, "No. My father is labeled as the wife and my Mother the opposite. All children know they came from the wife, not the husband. Is this not correct?"

"..."

"..."

"...Tabane!" A single voice broke through.

Chifuyu suddenly stormed out of the classroom in anger, leaving Maya to deal with the ten year old girl and a class full of distraught teenagers.

"...Kinishita-sensei, why today of all days?"

* * *

><p>Houki Shinonono, Lingyin Huang, Cecilia Alcott, and Laura Bodewing. 4 girls privileged enough to own their own personal IS units. To call them best friends wouldn't exactly be correct, but to call them enemies would be even more wrong. They didn't hate each other, far from it really, they actually preferred to stay in each other's company when not with a certain boy.<p>

The only thing they could be described as would be rivals. All of them had the same goal: A certain clueless male pilot, but that didn't stop them working together once in a while.

Normally they didn't all stay in a group together, a Maiden's privacy and all that, but today was an emergency. Laura had overheard her roommate Charlotte last night about some kind of plan she had to spend more time with Ichika with no chance of interruptions.

Laura may have been a military genius, but she was no expert on secret love plans, so she did the only thing she knew at that point. That is, she bluntly asked Charlotte what her plan was so she could interrupt it when it happens.

Needless to say the 'brilliant plan' didn't exactly work out as planned, so she did the next best thing her training called for: Calling on trusted allies.

Unfortunately, Clarissa was unavailable because she actually found a boyfriend and the other Shwarzer Hase were off duty at the moment, so she did the next best thing after that: Wander around aimlessly till she thought of something.

Thankfully, Rin noticed her vacant expression earlier that day and asked her what was wrong. After some explanation she gathered the other two and agreed to work together to find out what was going on. As they said, 'the rival of my rival is my friend'.

Currently the 4 of them were making their way to Laura and Charlotte's shard room. With luck, they could find evidence of her so called plan.

"Laura-san, what do you think she has planned?" Houki asked the silver haired soldier curiously. She had her doubts on this considering Charlotte was usually the most straightforward one in the group and rarely ever hid things.

"I don't know." She shook her head, dejected, "She is truly a worthy rival indeed for her to be able to hide it from me."

"I didn't think Charlotte-san was capable of hiding something so well that even Laura-san wouldn't know." Cecilia commented off-handedly.

"Yeah, well, she did drag Ichika to the changing room that one time." Rin reminded them.

The rest of the walk was quiet after that until they reached the room.

As they were about to enter the room, the sound of voices reached Laura's ears, "Wait!" Laura held her hand up before crouching down and placing her head against the doorway.

"What's wrong, Laura?" Rin asked.

"There are voices, two females, based on the voices they're most likely between around... 12 years old? No, that can't be right" She continued to listen in, "It sounds like one of the is panicking and the other is trying to calm her down." She relayed.

"...Should we go in?" Cecilia asked.

Laura listened in for a few more seconds before nodding her head. Standing, she kicked the door in as fast as she could before rushing into the room, the others behind her.

"...Ah, we've been found."

"Took you long enough, I was wondering how long we'd have to stay here before someone came."

Two figures stood in the room. Or rather, one was sitting and the other was standing. The one who was sitting on the bed wore a gray tracksuit and had somewhat long black hair tied in a ponytail. The other one was a girl with silver hair tied in three distinct knots and wore a plain white dress.

"W-Wha...?" Laura was at a loss for words. She certainly didn't know how to deal with kids.

The black haired one shook placed her palm against her face and sighed, "I'm guessing this is another one of Aunt Tabane's experiments?" She looked back at them, "So, what is it this time? Alternate dimension? Body switch? I'm really hoping it isn't body switch."

"T-Tabane-sama wouldn't do such a foolish thing!" The silver haired girl standing next to the bed argued.

"Oh really? You didn't see what she tried to do when she finished watching that 'Back to the Future' marathon. The skid marks still haven't been removed."

By now all of them were in the room and were just as confused as Laura was. Were they seeing things? Did stress finally break their minds?

"T-That doesn't matter right now." The three-tailed girl started, "I need to find Tabane-sama, she may be in danger. The time machine was unstable and may have placed her in danger."

"Oh, so it is a time machine." The black haired girl did a long drawn out sigh, "Time travel experiments never work. We told her that after she tried making that copy of the Delorean. I should've known she'd never follow it."

"I must have been transported elsewhere when the machine overloaded. I hope Tabane –sama is not hurt..."

The two of them kept mumbling to each other, ignoring the other 4 girls in the room.

"...Uh, who are you two?" Rin finally found the nerve to interrupt.

The two of them seemed to remember that they weren't the only two in the room anymore and looked back at them. A look of surprise crossed the black haired girls face for a second before she bowed in apology.

"Ah, sorry, kinda forgot about you for a minute the- Wait, Aunt Rin, is that you?" She smiled at her.

"Aunt Rin? What are you talking about" This was officially the weirdest day of her life.

"Yeah, I recognize the others too." She pointed at each of them in order, "Aunt Laura, Aunt Cecilia, and Aunt Houki. At least the people who found us are familiar." She sighed in relief.

"W-Wait, could you please explain what you're talking about?" Cecilia asked.

The black haired girl looked confused at her statement, "Huh? What are-" She suddenly gasped, "Oh, right, time machine. You probably don't know who I am yet, right?" She took their silence as confirmation.

"Alright, introductions then." She pointed to the girl beside her, "The three tailed girl over there's Kuu. Usually she'd be at least 12 years older than me, but not right now." She pointed at herself next, "Name's Asuka Orimura. 12 years old, but you probably already know that."

"O-Orimura?" Houki wasn't mistaken, she heard her right, "How are you related to Ichika and Chifuyu-san?"

Asuka rubbed the back of her head slowly. She always hated it when people asked that. It was always awkward

"...Right, this might come as a bit of a shock, but I'm...their kid."

"Th-Their child! But...that's impossible! Ichika-san and Chifuyu-san are siblings!" Cecilia protested. The others were too frozen in shock to respond.

"...Love transcends all?"

* * *

><p><strong>Hope this one's better. Please read, review, and comment.<strong>


	3. Another side, another story

**Just some minor changes for Chapter 3.**

* * *

><p>The atmosphere was tense. Ichika and Charlotte stood frozen as the small blonde boy's announcement echoed all over the room.<p>

Ichika took a breath he didn't even realize he was holding and asked Charles to repeat what he just said. "U-Um, could you say that again?" He asked him, sweat dripping down his face. He had just misheard him, right? There wasn't any way Charlotte had a child, right?

The blonde boy looked at him again, never letting go of his grip on Charlotte's waist. "I said she's my Mother." He gestured to the uncomfortable looking Charlotte. Ichika took note of the fact that he was using the formal way of saying Mother (Okaa-san) rather than the more casual way of referring to them.

Ichika shook his head. No, there was something else he said, something that made him doubt the Charles' statement even more. "Could you repeat her name again?" He asked him slowly. He was sure he heard something odd about the way he said her name.

Charles looked confusedly at him before looking back at Charlotte. "...Mother?" He gestured to her. He seemed to think Ichika asked him how he called her rather than her actual name.

"No, that's not what I- Look, could you please repeat what you said a few seconds ago?" Ichika asked anxiously. He had a feeling he'd regret hearing the answer in some way or another, but he couldn't just leave it alone.

"I said I found my Mother." He answered, causing Ichika to sigh in exasperation before trying again.

Charlotte looked nervously between at Ichika and the boy clinging to her waist. Ichika continued to ask questions, yet the child didn't seem to understand what he was getting at. Come to think of it, she also heard something odd about his announcement earlier

"Um, can you please say my name again? Not what you call me, but the name you said when you found me." She politely requested him.

He looked confused for a moment before he seemed to realize what Charlotte was asking him. "Oh, you mean the name you the teacher calls you when she talks to you, right? He asked in an excited tone. Charlotte just nodded and hoped this was the right answer. "It's Charlotte Orimura!"

Charlotte Orimura

Time stopped. Ichika was thankful only he and Charlotte were here right now – Chifuyu having left earlier to keep the other students in line – because he was having the worst breakdown he ever had in his short life.

"T-That's impossible! Charlotte's too young to have a kid!" He denied profusely. Strangely enough, he seemed to be ignoring the fact that it was his last name being used instead of hers. Ah, the wonders of the teenage mind.

Charles didn't seem to find this funny and immediately glared at him. "Don't make fun of Mother's age! She's the execooti- Uh, the cherryman of hig- Uh..." He struggled to come up with the words needed, but gave up when he realized he didn't know them.

While Ichika was having a breakdown of massive proportions, Charlotte tried to calm herself and look at the situation logically. This boy – who, admittedly, did look a lot like her – claimed he was her son. Even more, he had said his last name was Orimura, which could only mean that-

Charlotte's face instantly blushed bright red as she realized the implications. Did that mean that Ichika and her...No, she was sure she only dreamt of any encounters of that sort and that she was still a pure maiden. Besides, how could she have gotten pregnant without knowing it? It was impossible.

"Mo...mother! " She heard a voice mumble.

Charlotte felt her sleeve being tugged and saw the child looking up at her with begging eyes. "Ye-Yes, what is it..." Charlotte stopped herself when she realized she didn't know his name.

"Can we go somewhere else? I don't like it here. A lot of people kept pointing at us and yelling. It's scary," He shivered slightly and held her hand. Truthfully, half of her felt like picking him up and hugging him and telling him it was going to be alright, but there were other concerns to be worried about right now.

She turned to Ichika and found him on the floor, knees to his chest, and muttering incoherently to himself. "Ichika, we might want to leave before anybody else gets here. I'm not sure if Orimura-sensei can keep everyone calm for too long." She urged him.

After a few more seconds of muttering, Ichika nodded his head nervously and stood up from the floor. He was about to leave the room with the two of them before he suddenly remembered something. "Wait, where's Yuu!" He looked around in a panic.

"Yuu? Who's that?" Charlotte asked him. Ichika didn't reply and quickly searched all over the Cafeteria.

"Yuu! Come on, please don't tell me you're lost!" He looked under the tables and in the kitchens, but he couldn't find any trace of the brown haired boy. After a few minutes, he stopped to catch his breath.

"Ichika, who, or what, are you looking for?" Charlotte asked him. She idly felt the kid tighten her grip on his hands and she squeezed back softly in reassurance.

Ichika took a few seconds to catch his breath before replying. "Charles wasn't alone when I saw him. He was with another kid and I took them here together before everyone started asking questions. He must've slipped away while the girls crowded around us..." He answered her.

Charlotte felt herself stiffen as she remembered her own wards from earlier. She'd seen them go into the crowd of girls surrounding Ichika, but she couldn't find them after the crowd dispersed. After Charles (That's what Ichika called him) called her his...mother (She still wasn't used to thinking of herself like that), she'd forgotten about them almost completely.

"I-Ichika, did you see a couple of little girls while you in the crowd earlier?" She asked him anxiously. She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten about them till now.

"Little girls? Sorry, I don't really remember much. All of them kept asking questions at the same time so I couldn't really get a good look around." He answered as he stood up straight again.

She was worried he was going to say that. What were they supposed to do now? Finding a kid in a place as large as IS academy was hard enough as it is, but finding three kids? They'd need an entire group searching. "W-Well, we need to find them. Who knows what'll happen to them if we don't."

"But what about..." He didn't complete his sentence and just pointed at the blonde haired boy clinging to Charlotte's hand. It wasn't like they could just take him with them while they went searching for three runaway kids.

"Eh?" She titled her head to the side before she realized what he was getting at. _'Having Charles around while we're searching the school might not be the best idea.'_ She thought idly. "Oh, uh...maybe we could leave him in my room for a whi-" She suggested before she suddenly got cut off.

Charles quickly let go of her hand and wrapped his arms round her waist again. "No! I don't wanna lose you again!" Charlotte nearly lost her balance as Charles clinged to her voiced his refusal to be left behind.

"I-It'll be alright. Please calm down" She patted his head to try and calm him down. She looked at Ichika and saw that he was just as confused as she was. What were they supposed to do now?

"We might meet more people like the one's earlier. It'll be best if you stay somewhere else for now." Ichika reasoned.

Charles looked back at him and shook his head left and right. "I-I-I'll go with you! He helped me earlier and I should help him now since he might need it!" He declared bravely. While Charlotte felt touched at how unselfish her "son" was being, Ichika couldn't help but take note of the fact that his legs were shaking despite his bold announcement.

"Ichika, maybe he should come long with us." Charlotte asked him.

He looked t her and prepared to say no...until he saw that he was doing her signature pout. The same one she used on him when she called him a pervert when he found out she was a girl.

'_No, no, no. Don't fall for it!'_ He forced himself to not look at her and looked down to Charles instead who...was giving him the exact same look as she was. _'What the heck? Do these two practice in front of a mirror or something!' _He thought frantically.

"Please, Ichika. I'm sure he'll be fine if we keep an eye on him." Charlotte begged him.

Feeling overwhelmed by the stares the two were giving him, he reluctantly agreed to their request. "Alright, we'll take him with us." He agreed as he walked to the exit of the cafeteria.

He didn't see the two of them smiling and winking at one another at the success of their plan. Really, Ichika was too easy to fool.

The three of them searched the halls for any sign of the missing kids. But, there wasn't any indication that they were ever here. Ichika was starting to wonder how Yuu was doing and if he was okay.

"Charles, can I ask you something?" Ichika heard Charlotte ask as the three of them walked on the halls. He looked back slightly when he heard her, but gave no other indication that he was eavesdropping.

"What is it Mother?" He replied, sending another chill up Ichika's spine. The thought of Charlotte being a mother, that he could understand. She already seemed very motherly and kind, so he could see her with a child.

The problem was **how** she became a mother in the first place. Charles didn't seem like an adopted kid, and Charlotte didn't look pregnant at all in the past few months. If she had

Ichika suddenly had an image of Charlotte lying on a bed, face red in embarrassment as she unzipped her jersey. Her skin glistening with sweat and her lower body bare. She leaned back and smiled as-

Ichika quickly smacked himself in the face a few times to get rid of the images plaguing his mind. What was he thinking? How did wondering how she got a kid lead to him imagining her doing the act! Thankfully, it looked like neither of the two noticed his odd behavior and were busy with their own conversation.

"If I'm the mother, then who's the father?" Charlotte asked curiously. She already had feeling her guess on who it was, was correct, but she needed to be sure.

"Oh, his name's-"

* * *

><p>On the other side of the school, another person was having problems of her own.<p>

Kanzashi sighed as she looked at the diagram of her IS on the blueprints. She'd need to make a few more modifications till the power output reached a satisfactory level. Right now, using most of her weapons would cause too much recoil and throw her off balance.

Still, she'd made some major progress the last few weeks, and it was all because of...him. Thanks to him, she was able to repair her unit in time for the inter class tournament and even talk to her sister normally again. She blushed slightly as he remembered how persistent he was in asking her to be his tag partner. Even the knowledge that her sister put her up to it didn't stop her from keeping it as a fond memory in her heart.

She conveniently chose to ignore the fact that she wasn't that cooperative and spiked his food with peppers when she felt irritated.

Still, her chances probably weren't that good she thought sadly. Being the only male pilot meant he was the only male in the entire school. She remembered the first day where her classmates beelined for his class come lunchtime.

'_He probably likes someone else already.' _She moped to herself. It was no secret that the "rep candidate group", as they were called, all had feelings for him and one of them even kissed him in front of the class! She could never have the courage to do something like that.

To make things worse, she was sure her own sister had feelings for the young man as well, and she couldn't possibly beat her if that was the case. She'd heard that he liked older girls, so did that mean her sister had an advantage?

She sighed again as she closed the screen and made her way back to her room. Maybe watching some anime would cheer her up. She wondered what genre she was going to watch till she came upon an unusual sight.

"Fwaaaaa~ This place is so big~" She heard a sleepy voice remark.

Kanzashi turned to the source of the voice and saw, much to her surprise, a pink haired young girl - no older than 10 years old by the looks of her - swaying in place looking like she wasn't aware of anything going on. The rabbit pajamas she wore made her look even more out of place in the halls.

Kanzashi looked around and saw no one else on the hall but the two of them. She shouldn't be surprised; Classes were still ongoing and she was allowed to skip due to her unique circumstances. Slowly, she went to the little girl and kneeled in front of her.

"...Are you alright?" She asked her. The pink haired girl didn't reply for a few seconds before she suddenly straightened up.

"Ah! When'd you get here!" She replied. Kanzashi almost fell to the floor in shock at her reply. How did she not see her? She walked right in front of her and asked her a question.

"What are you doing here?" She tried asking again.

The pink haired girl tilted her head to the side and looked confused for a moment before answering. "Uh~ Where is 'here'? I don't know what this place is." She answered sleepily.

Kanzashi was confused. How did a kid get here without knowing how? IS Academy was heavily defended and only those who should be here were able to enter. How did this little girl, who claimed not to know where she was, get here without anyone noticing?

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to think on this since the girl suddenly started hopping in place. She looked like a real rabbit, Kanzashi idly noted.

"...What's wrong?" She asked the hopping girl.

"I-I-I have to go to the bathroom~" She answered, looking up at Kanzashi. Kanzashi saw that her eyes were yellow in color and it reminded her of her friend, Honne.

"A-Alright, please follow me and I'll show you where it is..." She uttered in a slight panic. The small girl nodded her head rapidly before grabbing hold of Kanzashi's hand. As quick as she could, Kanzashi ran towards the nearest bathroom, the little girl following close behind.

So much for a peaceful afternoon watching anime.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile, on the city.<strong>

"Man, I wonder what's got Grandpa Gen so riled up?" A red haired young man complained as he walked back home.

"Don't ask me! All I know is it's interrupting something important." A red head girl next to him grumbled.

Dan and Ran were going to the mall earlier (Well, more like Ran wanted to go and dragged Dan along to carry her stuff) when Dan suddenly got a call from their grandfather Gen, telling them to come home immediately and that it was an emergency. Needless to say, the mall trip was canceled in favor of going home.

"All that shopping wasted! I need to buy the proper swimsuits for next year " Ran complained and picked up her pace. Maybe if she got there and back quickly enough she could still get some done.

Personally, Dan had no problem being sent back home. If it meant skipping out on standing around while his little sister got swimsuits that she couldn't possibly all use, then he was all for it.

"Hey Ran, be careful. Don't want you to get lost again like the summer festival" Dan answered defensively.

The rest of the trip back home was quiet, neither of the siblings having anything to talk about, and it wasn't long before they found the familiar building of the Gotanda eatery.

Dan sighed in relief as he saw the building. "Finally, now to find out what that crazy old basta-"

"RAAAAAAAAN!" A voice yelled, interrupting what Dan was about to say.

The two siblings froze when they saw Gotanda Gen running out of the eatery with tears on his eyes. Gen, crying? Was the world ending right now? Gen never cried and frequently told the two of them never to do so as well even unto the pain of death. What could cause him to break his own words?

Dan quickly dodged to the side to avoid Gen as he crushed Ran in a giant bear hug. Ran's face turned blue at the lack of oxygen.

"H-Hey, Grandpa! You're crushing her!" Dan yelled at him.

Gen quickly let go of her and did the same thing to Dan. He saw everything go blurry as the air was cut out of his lungs.

"Grandpa, cut it out!" Ran yelled and smacked him hard on the back.

Gen seemed to calm down and quickly let go of Dan, dropping him onto the floor and causing more curses from him about his aching bum.

"S-Sorry, i-it's just that I'm so proud!" He smiled at Ran and clapped her on the shoulders, tears still leaking from his eyes. "I never thought I'd live to see my little Ran-chan get a daughter of her own. I've got my own great granddaughter and I haven't felt this proud in a long time!"

Both siblings froze when they heard what Gen had just said. Did he just say great-granddaughter?

"SAY WHAAAAAT!"

* * *

><p><strong>That's all for now. Sorry if the characters are OOC.<strong>


	4. Mixed Feelings

**Thanks for the reviews:) Now to answer a question from a review before I start the next chapter:**

**The confrontation between all of them won't happen for a few more chapters. I need to introduce all the kid's first before they all meet one another. And no, rarely any of them meet the correct kid first. It'll be too easy for the kids to recognize and obey their respective mom's, after all.**

**Also, Maya might be a bit OOC here, but since she's a teacher, I'd imagine she knows how to deal with younger kids if not teenagers.**

"Speaking"

'_Thinking'_

* * *

><p>Maya Yamada wasn't having the best day of her life. Granted, being a teacher for IS academy wasn't the easiest job in the world, but it was doable enough ad rewarding in its own right.<p>

However, she was sure she wasn't trained in order to handle these kinds of situations...

After Chifuyu had left the classroom, the entire class went devolved into pandemonium. Screaming everywhere, bodies piled onto the floor in droves, blood spilled in the name of jealousy and other forms of rage. The skies stained with the blood of innocent maiden's as they all died crying for their beloved.

At least, that's what the rumors being spread around school would have you believe. Truth be told, the entire class either fainted at the declaration or ignored it as being a lie at hearing the child claiming to be Ichika's child. Still, Maya couldn't help but feel glad none of the personal IS pilots were there.

Chifuyu returned to the class after a while and told her to take the kid away while she handled the rest of the students. Maya was going to complain...but then she remembered who exactly she was going to complain to, and decided that she preferred to keep living as opposed to dying horribly via a mad Chifuyu.

So now here she was escorting the child to the office in order to find her parent or guardian (Whoever she could find first) and hopefully end this mess.

Maya looked beside her at the young silver haired girl. She honestly did look a lot like her student Laura Bodewig, but her claims of being her daughter were really farfetched.

"Umm, Celeste-san, do you remember how you got here?" Maya asked her nervously. She was also tempted to ask how she got into the classroom without anyone noticing, but she figured asking that would be a bad idea.

Celeste looked up to her, the eyepatch covering her left eye unnerving Maya as it made it look like the girl was glaring at her. "No...I do not remember how I arrived here. I remember I was training my marksmanship in the training practice room, but not much else." She answered in overtly formal tone.

'_Hmm, it looks like she doesn't know about how she got here- Wait, did she say marksmanship?' _She grabbed the shoulder of the small figure walking beside her. "M-Marksmanship training? Aren't you a bit young to be doing something like that!" She asked her in a panic, completely forgetting her previous question.

"Hm? I believe I'm of sufficient age to legally start training my gun discipline. My mother would be proud if she saw how good I was at hitting all the targets." She looked proud as she explained herself.

In truth, Maya really shouldn't have felt shocked, considering the fact that she taught students how to pilot weapons of mass destruction on a daily basis. A girl telling her she fired a gun would be just the same as a student of hers telling her she managed to use her IS correctly.

At this point, the two of them had stopped walking and were just talking to one another. The fact that the halls were deserted was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, no one would be there to interrupt them or spread rumors. On the other hand, that meant there was no one around she could ask for help.

Still, she felt that it was wrong somehow. "But you used a fake gun, right? This is how you got your parents to let you do it?" She had expected her to answer yes, and that she wouldn't even think about firing a real gun.

Needless to say, she wasn't going to get the answer she was expecting.

"No, it was a real pistol. Do you want to see?" She rummaged in her pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a small pistol and showing it to Maya. By the looks of things, it was a silenced operator. A standard issue firearm for Civilian's if one got the proper license for it.

Now how exactly that gun fit into that girl's skirt pocket will remain a mystery wrapped in an enigma of falsehoods.

"W-Where did you get that gun! Nevermind, give it to me right now!" Before the girl could state her refusal, Maya hurriedly took the offending weapon from her hand and held it above her head as the girl tried to reach for it.

"Give it back! Give it back! Give it back! I'm old enough to use a gun!" She jumped up and down to try and get the gun back to no avail. Maya was too tall (or she was too short) for her to get it.

Celeste seemed honestly think there was nothing wrong with her using a gun. To her, what she did was normal.

On the other hand, Maya was finding this just a bit surreal. "Celeste-san, how old are you?" She asked curiously.

Celeste suddenly stopped jumping and froze on the spot and she seemed to stiffen as she answered. "...12 years old?" She answered as sweat dripped down her face.

'_Is she telling me or asking me?'_ Maya sweat dropped right before she got a devious idea. "I see. Are you aware of the law you're breaking right now?" Her face looked dead serious as she stared down at the smaller girl.

"L-Law? I-I was sure I read everything about the gun laws from mommy's book and 12 years was the minimum age." She answered nervously, the overtly formal tone and wording was starting to disappear from her voice.

Being the middle child in her family, she had to help her elder sister to take care of her younger siblings at times when they were younger. This meant that she knew exactly what buttons to push and when to press them when she was dealing with kids.

"Oh yes, didn't you know the new rule that only 13 year olds could use guns? I'm afraid I'll have to arrest you for-" Before she could finish her sentence, Celeste interrupted her.

"W-Wait, I-I'm 13 years old! I-I just made a mistake, that's all!" She answered even more nervous than before. In her panic, she failed to realize how a regular schoolteacher would be able to arrest her if she had broken any supposed gun laws.

Maya had to resist the urge to tell her she was just joking as she saw the girl flail around comically. "Oh? Then please show me your ID. If I see that you're lying, I'll have to detain you until further notice and call your mother to-"

She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before nearly fell onto the ground as Celeste suddenly charged into her and hugged her legs tightly. "D-D-Don't tell mom! I-I snuck out at night so I can practice when both her and dad are asleep! If you tell her I was practicing, sh-she'll kill me! Please don't tell!" Her previously formal tone and wording had completely disappeared and was replaced with a more childish one.

She also seemed to have forgotten that Maya didn't even know who her mother was (No, she didn't think it was Laura.). Oh well, she was going to take advantage of her momentary confusion. "Are you really 12 years old?" She asked.

"I'm...8 years old" She answered with some hesitation and stepped away from Maya, wiping her face to make sure there weren't any tears.

Now that made more sense to her. There was no way she'd believe that this girl was supposed to be 12. "Are you going to be truthful from now on? No more ying?" Celeste shook her head up and down. "Alright, we have to go to the office and see if they know who your mother is." She started walking, the girl following behind her.

Celeste tugged on Maya's arm and stopped her before she asked a question. "W-Wait, didn't you say you were going to call mommy if I didn't show you my ID?"

"Yes, that's right. You say that Laura-san and Ichika-san are your mother and father, but I'm sure your parents must be around here somewhere." Maya answered, ignoring the look of disbelief on Celeste's face.

"Then how were you going to call her like you said earlier?" She demanded, her voice regaining more of its confidence.

"Oh, that's easy." Maya had to resist the urge to laugh as the girl seemed to realize what she did.

"I was just joking."

* * *

><p>At another side of the school, a lone figure walked slowly down the halls, her pink hair bobbing up and down as she seemed to force herself to walk.<p>

This person's name was Honne Nohotoke, and she was about to get involved in a series of event's that were beyond her control.

She'd been sent out by the student council president to search for the supposed kid's from the rumors and bring them back to the student council room if necessary. In truth, Tatenashi saw how sleepy the girl was and gave just told her to do this to give her something to do with her spare time. She hadn't exactly thought the tired girl would actually find something.

Oh, how wrong she was.

The home economics room was rarely used by the students of ISA, as a result, it usually just stayed gathering dust for most of the school year. . The reason for this being that Home economics was an optional subject and the students preferred not to take it.

So why then was the entire room brightly lit and the smell of food permeating the air?

The usually abandoned room was brimming with life. Food was being cooked on the stoves, ingredients were being used to make new one's according to recipes, and multiple small figures ran around making sure it was all going correctly.

"Yuu-san, please get the carrots before they turn too soft!" A short light blonde haired girl ordered to the shorthaired boy. With a nod, he scooped up the carrots from the pot before the hot water turned them inedible.

"What do I do, C-chan?" A blue haired girl energetically asked the blonde haired one.

She pointed to the sizzling pieces of meat being cooked at the grill. "Sara-san, please flip them over and make sure they don't burn. It's not going to taste very well if one side's burnt to a crisp."

"I'll be mixing the stew over here!" The last person, a girl with long brown hair tied in a ponytail, yelled out as she stirred the big pot of meat stew.

While the blonde child hadn't been seen before, the other three matched the descriptions of the kids seen with Ichika and Orimura and Charlotte Dunoa earlier.

The blonde child had hair that reached to just below her neck and curled at the end. The white skin and blue eyes indicated that she was a foreigner, though one could see a trace of Japanese if they looked close enough. She was wearing clothes befitting of a noblewoman: A blue turtleneck sweater with a long tan skirt that reached just below her knees along with a pair of white boots. Pretty fancy for a kid, but Honne wasn't one to judge.

Based on their actions, it looked like they were cooking something for either themselves or somebody else. Honne guessed they were cooking for themselves if the way they stared at the food hungrily was any indication.

The four children continued to work all around the room, ignoring Honne's presence as she stood at the doorway. Their hunger seemed to take precedence over everything else.

Now, Honne wasn't the most serious person around. Indeed, she always seemed to be sleepy and had a smile on her face that seemed to say "Everything will work out by itself". Because of this, she was nicknamed the class mascot.

But, even she thought something odd was going on here, and she was going to get to the bottom of it no matter what.

As this was going on, one of the kids finally seemed to notice her presence. "Ah, onee-chan! Could you help us out? We need someone to mix the batter for the cake we're going to make later." The blue haired girl from earlier asked her as she pointed to the cake mix sitting at one of the tables.

Honne thought about it for a moment before deciding she needed to focus on what's important. She needed to solve the mystery of the kids being here and she needed to do it now!

Wait, did they say cake?

"Okay~" She smiled and made her way slowly to the small table.

Hey, you can't solve a mystery on an empty stomach, right?

* * *

><p>At yet another side of the school, two figures were walking slowly down the halls. To be more precise, one of the figures was walking slowly like he was about to fall asleep and the other one stayed next to him to make sure he was okay.<p>

The first figure was a boy with light green hair wearing and eyes. Based on his height and weight, he looked to be about 9-10 years of age.

The gentle face framed by the glasses and the soft looking skin made it very hard to see him as a boy at first glance. The yellow shirt he was wearing was oversized and was complimented by the green shorts that reached below his knees, which added more to his effeminate appearance. For shoes, he was wearing a pair of yellow running sneakers.

"K-K-Kazuma-san, are you sure you're alright? We can stop if you're not feeling well." He asked nervously to the boy beside him as he saw him wobble in place again.

The one he was talking to seemed to be his opposite. He looked about 8-9 years and had black hair and brown eyes coupled with a more stoic expression compared to his companion. The long sleeved white shirt, jeans, and black shoes he was wearing looked messy and unkempt, but they seemed to at least cover the entirety of his body well enough.

"...I'm fine, Shouta-san."" He shook his head left and right as his vision faded. "Just a bit tired, that's all." He continued to walk even as his steps turned noticeably more forced.

"D-Do you know where we are?" Shouta asked him. He shook his head no and Shouta continued. "I th-think I've seen this place b-before, b-but I don't remember where." He remarked with a slight stutter.

"Do you know how we got here? I don't remember much..." Kazuma asked in return.

Shouta shook his head. "N-No, I remember going home from s-school...but I don't remember anything after that. W-What about you?"

Kazuma paused before answering slowly. "I...don't remember anything at all...sorry." He answered softly as he quickened his pace.

"O-Oh...it's alright." Shouta nodded and sped up in order not to lose him.

They hadn't known each other that long: The two of them woke up at the same place and neither knew how they got there. Since neither of them seemed to know what this place was, they thought sticking together would work out better than getting lost separately.

However, it didn't take long for Shouta to take notice of his companion's odd behavior.

He seemed to be sleepy and his steps wobbled more and more the longer they walked. And, though he tried to hide it, he seemed to be holding onto his side as if he was in pain. Shouta had asked him earlier what was wrong, but he refused to say anything and simply said that he was dizzy.

'_I wonder what's wrong with him?'_ Shouta thought worriedly as he walked alongside him.

The two of them had been walking for about 15 minutes now and they had not found anyone at all. For a second, they thought they saw a woman with pink hair in another hallway, but she disappeared before they could say anything. Now they were looking for anyone at all in the same hall she came from.

"Shouta-san, do have a phone or anything? Maybe you could call your parents or friends for help." Kazuma suggested.

Shouta dug into his shorts pocket and showed the small phone to him. The screen was black and it didn't light up when he pressed any of the buttons. Looks like it was out of battery.

"Well, I don't have one either" He sighed. "Do you think we'll find anyone? I don't want to keep walking too long." He complained and pressed his side slightly.

"I-I'm feeling hungry t-too." His stomach rumbled, eliciting a small laugh from the black haired boy.

"We don't know where we are, and we haven't seen anyone at all, and you're thinking about food?" He asked in slight disbelief.

"I-I can't h-help it! I haven't eaten yet and I was supposed to when I got home. D-Dad was supposed to make his best ramen for the three of us." He drooled slightly as he remembered.

Kazuma clapped him softly in the back to get him out of his delusions. "Alright, we need to look for someone first, not think about ramen." He chastised him lightly. "After that, we can look for something to eat together."

"D-Does that make us friends?" Shouta suddenly asked, causing Kazuma to halt.

"...Why are you asking?"

"N-No one really talks to me in school for some reason. T-They keep saying that that I'm too girly to be a guy and tease me. I-I-I heard friends eat together so-" Before he could continue, Kazuma interrupted him.

"Yeah...I guess that makes us friends." He smiled slightly as he stuck out his left hand. "I guess we're each other's first friend."

Shouta nervously raised his hand to shake his. "Y-Yeah, thanks..." He smiled as his face reddened a bit. "I guess I'll call you Kazuma-kun from now on."

Kazuma nodded and started walking again. "I'll be calling you Shouta-kun from now on too."

The two of them kept moving before Shouta started pointing to his left excitedly. Kazuma looked behind him and saw what he was so excited about: An open room with someone sitting on a desk. The two of them ran quickly. Both of them were happy to have finally found someone after 15 minutes of searching.

"E-Excuse me!" Shouta shouted as he entered the room.

The person looked up from the desk and they saw her features clearly: Blue hair, red eyes, and pale skin. She seemed surprised to see them for a moment before she calmed down smiled at them. "Hello, who are you two?" She asked them politely.

"M-My name's Shouta" He pointed at himself. "And his name's Kazuma." She pointed to the black haired boy. "Could you please help us? We don't know where we are.

"Shouta-kun and Kazuma-kun" She nodded before pointing at herself. "Un un. My name's Tatenashi, but you can just call me Onee-chan if you want." She stood up from her desk to get a closer look at them.

She wasn't expecting the rumors of kids being in the Academy to be really true. But, being the student council president, she knew to remain calm in any situation and to handle it efficiently.

"Come with me and I can help you find your parents. You'll have to give me their full names later when we get to the office."

"D-Did you hear that, Kazuma-kun? We're saved!" Shouta told his new friend excitedly.

Unfortunately, Kazuma didn't seem to share in his friend's sentiments and was looking at Tatenashi with fear in his brown orbs.

"No...I thought this place was far away from them...I thought I got away..." He shook uncontrollably as he backed away to the door.

"K-Kazuma-kun, w-what's wrong?" He stepped closer to him before Kazuma whispered in his ear.

"Run, right now!" He whispered frantically as panic set into his voice. "Don't let them catch you!" He looked crazed, like he had seen some kind of monster. His entire body was sweating and his breath became more and more stressed and rapid. This was a complete reversal of his previously slow actions.

"B-But why? Sh-She said she'd help us!" Shouta asked nervously.

"Are you alright? You don't look very well" Tatenashi asked when she saw his distress and nervous shaking

Kazuma didn't reply and quickly released his hold on Shouta before running out the door as fast as his legs would take him.

"K-Kazuma-kun, wait!" Shouta quickly tried to grab his friend's sleeve. But it was too late.

He was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Finished with this chapter:|<strong>

**Just a question: Do you guys/girls want Madoka Orimura involved here or no? Drop your answer in a review on whether you agree or disagree.**

**Here's some teaser dialogue for the next chapter:**

"Are you sure we should be doing this? What if we get caught?"

"It'll be alright. Mom and Dad used to do this all the time when they were our age."

"They were both 15 when they did it..."

"Awww~, we're close enough already. Don't be such a spoilsport!"

"Alright. But if you get caught, then I don't know you."

"How could you say that to your big sister!"

"...We're twins, don't act like you're older than me."


	5. A new heroine

**Next Chapter of Future Imperfect here. Before we start, I'll answer some questions first.**

**1. Yes. Chifuyu and Tabane have their own kids. Honne and Ran got a kid, so why not those two?**

**2. The list of worldwanderer2.0 is correct so far. As for Yuu, Kazuma, and Fuka (Brown haired girl), you'll have to wait till I get to the meet up chapter to see if you're correct in their guesses. I'll tell you this now, though: The guess for Kazuma is wrong.**

**3. The meet up will happen once I introduce all the kids and find a way to have the entire cast meet up. Don't worry, only a few kids left till the meet up.**

**Also, calling the kid "C-chan" in the earlier chapter was on purpose. It's Sara-san's way of nicknaming people.**

**I'll be tweaking the narration a bit starting now. Depending on who has the spotlight, the narration might change to reflect more on their personality. The part with Madoka below should show you how.**

* * *

><p>While the entire school was in an uproar over the rumors of supposed kids (It's been only a couple of hours since they were spotted. Rumors flew faster than the IS at this school), one lone figure didn't give it any heed.<p>

She had long black hair tied into a ponytail and features reminiscent of a certain feared ISA teacher. The uniform she wore on her seemed a bit too small for her, but that's what she gets when she threatened a random student to strip her clothes and give them to her or she would shoot her right in the-

Anyway, she was currently searching the school for her beloved big brother for she had missed him these past few days. Of course, that's all there was to it. She just wanted to see her dear, sweet, not in any danger of being raped and/or killed from her, brother to say hello.

"Hmm~ I wonder where he is? I have a present for him" Madoka laughed creepily to herself, causing distant ravens to caw and cats to screech as they heard the sound of her laughter echo. They knew the sound of when monsters laughed, and it wasn't pretty.

She'd been stuck in the academy for about 4 weeks now. After she had tried to meet (attack) her beloved big brother (target) at his house to say hello (shoot him in the face), his violent friend (Laura) pushed her down and called her names (disabled her and detained her) while the rest of his poisonous friends (Harem) arrived to help her.

Needless to say, things looked pretty bad for her at that moment. The 5 girls didn't seem to like her tying to shoot Ichika, and were prepared to deal with her in very unpleasant ways until Ichika intervened.

Why he intervened, none of them knew. Why would he tell the girls to not hurt the person who had just tried to kill him moments ago? Maybe he was just trying to give her a second chance, maybe he was curious about her similar appearance to Chifuyu, or maybe he was a masochist who was into that kind of thing. Either way, he had saved her from potentially being mauled.

They contacted Chifuyu soon after that and she determined that they should place Madoka I IS academy for the time being. Laura asked her why they shouldn't place her in a prison cell, and she remarked that no prison could hold someone like her.

Madoka smirked when she remembered when she last escaped from prison. She wondered if those guards could still have kids after what she did to them. That prison would never be used again, that's for sure.

At Chifuyu's order, she was bound, stripped, and taken advata- Okay, she was just bound and had her IS taken from her. But, you have to admit, the previous statement sounded more interesting.

Now, here she was, 4 weeks later, trapped in this insane academy surrounded by pilots left and right (They were at least nice enough to give her one of rooms at the dorms). Chifuyu knew that without an IS, she was essentially trapped. Ichika often visited her during her stay, either asking questions about her connection to Chifuyu (which she didn't answer) or just to see how she was doing (which she was surprised he even cared about).

None of the students ever stumbled into her room by accident. They were all but banned by Chifuyu to even look at her room, lest they receive her Spartan punishments. This gave her a lot of free time to think.

During those 4 weeks, Ichika was the only one who visited her. Chifuyu never once tried to make contact with her, and his friends didn't see much reason to do so either. For those 28 days, Ichika was the closest thing she could call a friend. Well...as close as she could be to someone who you tried to kill, at least.

No one was coming for her and she knew it. Trying to kill Ichika was against her current orders, so Phantom Task wouldn't try to mount any kind of rescue or relief. She could just imagine Autumn laughing when she hears that she got captured. She really wished she was just a little bit late in rescuing her during the festival.

The visits from Ichika were her only relief from the boredom of being trapped in her room. Technically, she could leave whenever she wanted since the door wasn't locked, but she just knew Chifuyu would be breathing down her neck if she tried to go too far.

Eventually, the two got closer over that last few days. Madoka herself was surprised when she actually woke up in the morning **not** feeling like she wanted to murder him. She assumed it was just some early morning sickness and thought nothing of it at the time.

But, it didn't stop there. The more days passed, the more the urge to kill him and leave his corpse in a ditch lessened. Imagine the shock she received when she expressed an honest smile when Ichika was in her room again. Usually she would try to smile sadistically at him to try and unnerve him – which worked most of the time – or make casual remarks on how many ways she could kill him. Not...smiling like some giddy schoolgirl!

But, no matter her best efforts, she eventually started looking forward to seeing him again as the days went by. Their little chats became longer and longer, and more personal things were talked about between them. She still refused to say anything about her connection to Chifuyu, but he didn't really question her on that anymore.

Things only got worse when he decided to start bringing her some of his home made bento. The food was better than just about anything she got during her days in Phantom Task. He even offered to cook for her every day, saying it wasn't a bother for him to do so.

This, combined with his overall general niceness around her, made her hate him less and less as time went on.

Eventually, she decided that she actually wanted to do something nice for the guy, considering all he did for her. But, to do that, she'd need to leave the room without getting caught by Chifuyu. She heard that a bunch of kids had shown up on campus and that all of the teachers were scrambling around to find them. More importantly, it meant that Chifuyu would be too busy to pay attention if she left.

But first, she'd need a uniform. The casuals she was wearing (Borrowed from an unwilling Houki) would attract too much attention.

***Fwip***

The door opened soundlessly as she carefully looked around the hall. Her room was at the end of a long hall with no one else around. Thankfully (Unfortunately), a lone student with purple hair was talking on her cellphone at the end of the hall, unaware of the girl behind her.

Now, all she needed to do was ask for it nicely.

"...Hello there." She whispered menacingly into the other girl's ear.

"Waah!" The purple haired girl turned around, hand on her chest as she breathed in and out deeply. She was sure she was the only one at this hall right now.

"My name's Madoka, what's yours?" She asked in a sickly sweet tone, causing shivers to run down the girl's body. She didn't know why, but she felt like she was in terrible danger with this person.

"K-K-Kiyoka...Kiyoka Aikwawa." She answered nervously. Now, normally she was a very energetic person and always eager to meet new people and friends. But, for some unknown reason, this 'Madoka' seemed to make her nervous. Like she was about to die.

"Nice to meet you Aikawa-san" Madoka bowed politely before continuing, "I'm afraid I have a bit of a problem and I think you might be able to help." She added just the right amount of sadness on her voice, the same tone she used when she tricked people into falling for her schemes during previous missions.

"O-Oh, is that all? Well, if I can help, then why not?" She felt her nervousness leave her. Maybe this person wasn't so bad after all, " What exactly do you need Madoka-san?"

"That's simple." She stepped closer to her until Kiyoka's back was touching the wall. Her nervousness spiked up again and she swore that tears were about to fall from her eyes.

"Take off your clothes, or I'll kill you. Do you understand?"

* * *

><p>She managed to take a uniform from one of the other students after asking her very nicely if she could borrow it. In no way were the cries from the previous hall about how some crazy girl threatened her to strip or she would kill her related in any way. The students of this academy could say the most outrageous lies.<p>

"Hmm, I wonder if he still has classes..." She muttered to herself as she walked to the main campus. She really wasn't sure about the structure of this place, being a "new student" and all, so she was just guessing right now.

The afternoon sun shone down over the entire campus, bathing it in a golden light.

"I left the dorms at around 2 pm earlier, so he should be in IS practical training, right?" She asked herself. With a shrug, she decided to make her way to the hangar bay. It wasn't like she had anything to lose.

* * *

><p>Kanzashi sighed in relief after finally reaching her room. Finding the small girl earlier was certainly a surprise from her. She, better than anyone, knew how tight ISA was in its defense recently. The constant attacks had finally made the school board nervous enough to increase their security, so the presence of a child was even more odd than before.<p>

They had reached her room and the small girl all but ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her as she went. After a couple of minutes, the girl left the bathroom, smiling.

"Are you...alright now?" Kanzashi asked the pink haired girl.

"Yup~ Thank you, Onee-chan~" She smiled up to her, the bunny ears on her hood bobbing up and down cutely.

"N-No problem..." She blushed slightly. She always had a bit of a weak spot for cute things since she was a kid. Honne even got her pikachu pajamas to make Kanzashi laugh when they were younger.

She was shaken out of her thoughts when the girl asked her a question, "Onee-chan, do you know where this place is~" She asked.

Kanzashi swore she saw this kid somewhere before. But, that was impossible. She'd never interacted with kids much apart from the rare children at the parties she and her family usually attended before she enrolled in ISA.

"We're in...IS Academy. It's a school to teach students how to pilot the exoskeleton know as the Infinite Stratos, which, for reasons unknown, can only be piloted by females...with one exception" She recited straight from the manual, adding the unofficial edit at the end,.

The girl looked at her in confusion. She didn't understand anything Kanzashi said just now. "Unnnn~ My name's Yutaka, what's yours?" She asked, trying to change the subject."

"My name's...Kanzashi."

"Okay~ I'll call you Kanzashi-neechan then! Please take care of me!" Yutaka clapped her hands together and bowed at her announcement.

Kanzashi, on the other hand, felt nothing but shock. She was always used to being the younger sister, not the older one. She knew that the girl was probably just being nice, but she still felt oddly happy about it.

"Alright then...should we look for your parents?" She asked, worried for the pink haired girl.

She shook her head no before shrugging, "It's alright~ Mommy always knows I find my way home somehow. I can stay as long as I want as long as I go home before the next day." She answered cheerfully. "You remind me of Mommy's best friend, actually." She added.

'_W-What an irresponsible parent!'_ Kanzashi thought angrily to herself. What kind of person would let their child wander around for so long without getting worried? She was glad that she didn't know anyone like that, much less be their best friend.

"Onee-chan, what do you want to do?" Yutaka asked her suddenly, shocking her out of her reverie.

"Ah... I was going to watch some anime, but..." She trailed off, unsure of how to continue. Not many people knew of her like of anime, and if they did, would they even care to join her? She was sure Yutaka wanted to do something else.

"Uwaaah! Anime~ I wanna watch!" She jumped up and down excitedly.

In this case, Kanzashi was completely wrong.

"R-Really?" She asked nervously. She wasn't sure if Yutaka was faking it just to be nice or if she really wanted to watch. Many of the servants in the Sarashiki household were often the former.

"Yeah! What anime's do you have, Onee-chan? Oh, oh, do you have Infinity's Salvation?" Yutaka asked her eagerly, bouncing up and down like a hyper...rabbit. Those pajamas really fit her.

"Infinity's Salvation? What's that?" Kanzashi's voice had lost its usual pauses and she seemed to be more comfortable talking to the young pinkette.

"It's about this world where these robots can only be used by girls instead of boys. The main character's the only guy who can use it also, so he was sent to the special school to learn about it. He even gets a bunch of girls who like him!" She rattled off excitedly.

Kanzashi didn't know why, but that felt oddly familiar somehow...No, it must've been her imagination, "Is it really good?" She asked after Yutaka finished her explanation.

"Mmmmh...kinda. It's really funny, but the main guy's kinda wimpy. He gets into all these things that he looks like a pervert and the girls beat him up for it. He's not very cool." The disappointment in her voice was obvious. It seems that the only thing hurting the anime was the main character himself.

Kanzashi racked her brains to see if she remembered any anime like that on her list, "Sorry, I don't have it." Yutaka's head drooped down in disappointment, "But, I have a nice anime called Index, do you want to watch it?" Her disappointment disappeared and she bobbed her head up and down excitedly.

Looks like she was going to have her afternoon of anime watching, after all.

* * *

><p>Where the heck was he? She'd been looking all over the hangar bay for who knows how long now, and she hadn't seen any sign of him at all, "...I should've placed that tracking chip on him when I had the chance." She angrily said to herself.<p>

The entire hangar bay was deserted. Not a single person seemed to be present, bar the IS units stationed there. She could've taken one and flew off, but she was sure she would get shot down if she tried. She didn't really feel like running back to Phantom Task anyway. Life here was better than anything that ever happened there.

"Is there any way to track him down...I got it!" She ran to the main hangar room. Most of the IS units were stored there along with the main computer. According to the flier she found in the uniform's skirt pocket, the main computer kept a record of all the registered pilots in the school.

But, more importantly, it allowed anybody using it to keep track the current location of any personal IS unit.

After a few minutes of running, she saw the giant door housing the main computer. The dark metal shined dimly as she approached and the thick structure made it seem like some kind of foreboding creature resided within.

However, despite its intimidating appearance, all she had to do was walk right in and nothing could stop her. This Academy cut corners at security a lot for some reason. Ah well, it allowed her to have some "fun" during the Cannonball Fast event a few weeks ago.

Just as she was about to open the door, she heard the sound of voices from the inside. Kneeling down, she placed her ear next to the door and listened in. Thankfully, her hearing was augmented, so she could hear even through the thick steel of the door.

"Come on! Don't you wanna try it out?" The voice sounded feminine, high pitched, and cheerful to boot. Nobody she recognized, though, so she continued to listen.

"Are you sure we should be doing this? What if we get caught?" The voice was male, that much she knew. She very rarely ever heard male voices due to the environment she was used to, and this one sounded really distinct, really...young.

"It'll be alright, don't worry! Mom and Dad used to do this all the time when they were our age." The female voice replied.

"They were both 15 when they did it..." The sarcasm in his voice was obvious and footsteps clacked softly on the floor, most likely to leave the room. Madoka almost hid herself before the female voice interrupted again.

"Come on, Saito, don't be such a spoilsport!" The female voice whined, causing the footsteps to cease. It looks like she managed to stop the other person, 'Saito', from leaving.

"...Alright. But, if you get caught, then I don't know you."

"How could you say that to your big sister!" Oh, they were brother and sister? That at least explained why they were together. Now, how they managed to get in that room? That was another thing altogether.

"...We're twins, don't act like you're older than me." 'Saito' replied snarkily, causing a small fit of laughter from Madoka.

Well, I'm going to do it, whether you're doing it or not!" Rapid footsteps again, but this time they were followed by another pair.

"Aria, stop that! We're gonna get in trouble if you get caught!" He sounded worried, contrary to his words from earlier.

Let go, we're gonna fall if the two of us keep-

***Bang*** ***Clang*** ***Bang***

Crashes echoed from the inside and Madoka quickly opened the door out of impulse.

The figures - one male and one female – were both on the floor with a toppled Uchigane unit next them. By her guess, one of them (Most likely the girl) tried to use the unit and the buy stopped her, resulting in the two of them crashing to the ground along with the unit.

Both of them looked about 8-9 years old, give or take a few months. The rumors of kids around school really struck her as being completely false, and now here she was proven completely wrong.

Two things struck her as odd, however.

The first were their physical features: Both had light blue hair and red eyes framed by a pair of glasses, very uncommon, yet somewhat familiar colors. The boy had short, somewhat spiky hair, reaching only midway on his neck while the girl had longer hair that seemed to curl at the end. Both of them were also wearing outfits that seemed completely opposite to one another.

The male himself wore average clothing, at least to her, consisting of a black and white colored shirt, tan pants, and black and white sneakers. If she looked closely, she also saw a checkered band on his wrist.

The girl, however, wore a black and red outfit with a lot of lace - She remembered it was something called the Gothic Lolita – with some kind of odd frilly headband and black dress shoes.

Right now the two of them were on the floor panting, the girl on top of the guy as he squirmed underneath her, most likely in pain from the earlier fall. If they looked older, this would've looked way more compromising.

"Saito, are you alright?" The girl shook her head left and right to shake her dizziness away before looking down at her twin sibling.

"Yeah..." He answered in a weak tone as he grimaced in pain. He was going to feel that one in the morning.

Neither of them seemed to have noticed Madoka's presence, and to be honest, she'd rather keep it that way. Most people would've been interested to ask the kids what they were doing, how they got there etc etc. But, she wasn't like most people. All she really wanted to do was to look for Ichika's locaton on the radar, but that would be impossible with those two in the room.

Sighing, she turned to go back to the hallways again. No use in wasting her time, she figured. As she thought of what else she could do, another figure bumped into her before she could leave.

The person who bumped into her was yet another child, male again this time, bounced off her and landed on the ground. His clothes looked disheveled and his breathing erratic. Madoka almost felt a sliver of sympathy at the sight.

"K-Kazuma-kun, please wait!"

Another kid with green hair and the student council president ran towards him. He didn't seem to heed his friend's call and quickly got up from the ground and ran past her into the hallway to the mainframe room, the other two chasing after him and ignoring her in the process.

"...And they say I'm weird."

* * *

><p>Tabane woke up with a terrible headache.<p>

The lab around her was destroyed. Pieces of machinery crackled with electricity before bursting in small explosions. Many others simply deactivated. In short, her lab wasn't in the best state it had ever been.

Her plan was supposed to be simple: Grab Houki's kid, show it to the two lovebirds as proof that they would get married, and then place the kid back with no harm done. That way, her sister would get what she always wanted, and Tabane would gain her forgiveness. Like hitting two birds with one stone.

Instead, the portal nearly exploded. She actually saw the most peculiar sight before it did: Various kids flashed on it before quickly disappearing. It seems that time itself couldn't decide which future was right.

"Maaa, this is gonna take so long to rebuild~" She stood up and dusted herself off before looking at everything around her. The lab couldn't be saved. Too many circuits were fried by explosion, so she'd have to rebuild everything from scratch again.

"Oh well, at least you won't be alone."

She quickly turned around and was met with quite a sight. A little girl of about 10 years of age with long purple hair and brown eyes stood there, dressed in a white lab gown with casual clothing underneath it. The top of her head was crowned with a pair of white mechanical rabbit ears that seemed to rise and droop steadily.

"Huh, who are you?" Tabane asked in confusion. For the first time in her 24 years of life, she didn't know what to do.

The girl in the lab coat looked somewhat disappointed for a moment before answering, "My name's Usami, but you should know that already." She pointed straight at Tabane.

"It's nice to see you again, mom."

* * *

><p><strong>Please read and review.<strong>

**Nothing much to say for now except I hope that you guys/girls enjoyed it, and that any suggestions should be posted. No flames please.**


	6. Insert title here

**Just answering some reviews before the chappie starts.**

**Someone: I'm not an expert in genetics, and I don't have any plan to, so I can't exactly comment on your guesses. What are the chances that just about all the kids have their mother's looks despite being half Japanese? Near zero, but it still happens here. Besides, the other kids have pink, blue, and green hair. It's likely that all pretense of realistic genetics went out the window the minute I said Future Kids.**

**Also, naming Shouta a variation of Orimura would look redundant since Maya takes his last name. The only exceptions are the Sarashiki kids, and that's because of their family tradition. **

**Sara's not her real name. It's not that hard to figure where she got it.**

"**C" is short for "Claire".**

**Saito and Aria really were named after hero and Romance anime.**

**Remember, he says "My Mom calls me Yuu" not "My name is Yuu." Also, it says "he had a Japanese traits." The a is a typo, so I didn't say he had some.**

**Lastly, the idea for this story mostly came from Back to the Future when Marty met his mom. I thought that scene was funny, so I thought of this.**

**Anyway, we're close to the clash scene. Please look at the authors notes at the end for some news.**

**Warning: This chapter is pretty boring and shorter than the others since it sets up to how they'll all meet soon.**

* * *

><p>Many a great scholar once said that necessity was the mother of invention. Man created fire to keep warm, blades to hunt, and the story goes on and on. Mankind will always, if it needs to, adapt to its environment by either trying its best to live or making something to help it's continued survival.<p>

How exactly this applied to a world where women could pilot machines that could beat nukes was a mystery, but this saying was what Kazuma continued to think as he ran towards the central control room.

"Haa, haa, why won't she leave me alone..." He panted with exhaustion as he got closer to the end of the hallway he didn't know where it led, but at this point he didn't care. He'd rather be anywhere but here and stuck with...them.

His side burned with pain the longer he ran, but the thought of the consequences if he got caught kept him going. He briefly wondered why his new friend was chasing after him with her as well before disregarding that train of thought. He could worry about that later.

Soon he reached the end of the hallway and came upon some kind of giant, ominous door straight out of an RPG. Thankfully, the door was wide open, so he managed to get in without any problems. He bumped into another person down the hall but he didn't get a chance to get a good look at her. Still, the white uniform he caught a glimpse of told him he would end up running from her anyway.

With his last burst of strength, he made it to the room before the pain and exhaustion forced him to stop. The first thing he heard when he entered the room was a high-pitched feminine voice.

"Saito, who's that?"

Two figures stood there staring at him. Or rather, two figures were on the floor with one on top of the other. The one on top was a girl wearing some kind of odd dress while the one under her was dressed in casual clothes. Their clothes were odd, but the most striking thing about them was the light blue hair they both had.

Saito didn't bother answering his sister and just grunted more in discomfort. Honestly, didn't she know how heavy she was sitting on him like that? "Aria, get off me!" He grunted out as the pain on his back increased. She really should cut back on the sweets. She really wasn't that heavy, but the fact that she was sitting on his stomach still made it painful.

As soon as she heard the word 'weight', her previously cheerful expression vanished, "...Did you say something, Saito-chan?" Her face cast downwards and shadows seemed to conceal her eyes. Saito immediately resisted the urge to sigh in regret. He had forgotten the number one rule of the household.

Never imply Aria was fat or heavy. To do so usually meant an instant death sentence. When she called his name with a 'chan', he knew she was going to do something he didn't like.

"Uh...sorry, I didn't mean it like that." He apologized quickly (Though his deadpan voice sort of ruined it). If she didn't accept it, then he would have to start praying for whatever God he could that he would survive.

Aria ignored him and still continued to look down blankly. He always got the short end of the stick when dealing with his sister. His dad once joked he inherited that trait from him. Saito didn't find it very funny.

"Hmmm, since I can't get my costumes from here, maybe I could just do a drawing of you with Nakameguro-chan." She said, more to herself than anybody else in the room. "Maybe with the two of them in dresses or school uniforms." Her face blushed as she imagined...something in her head. Best not to look too hard into it.

Saito groaned loudly again, inwardly this time. She always got like this whenever she got mad at him for something ever since she started reading those odd manga's a few weeks ago. Still, he was glad she didn't have access to her costumes. That would've made it worse. She didn't look it, but she could easily drag him around whenever she needed him for something.

He couldn't help but wish either his mother or Aunt Tatenashi would show up right about now. Those two could always calm her down whenever she got into on of her moods. Their dad was too nice to usually do anything unless she went too far.

He regretted the day she ever got a hold of those weird manga's with the odd cover on it. When he asked her about it, she just blushed and hid it behind her. He didn't think it was worth it to keep pestering her on it if he knew what was good for him.

While the sibling bonding was going on, Kazuma was looking around the room for a way out. He was wondering what was taking the two of them so long to get there, but he wasn't going to complain about any extra time he was given. Time was a luxury he hadn't had in a while.

* * *

><p>"P-Please go on ahead of me." Shouta sat against the wall and panted heavily. He really wasn't used to physical activities and running for over 20 minutes straight had taken a lot out of him.<p>

Tatenashi quickly stopped in her tracks and looked back at him, worry in her eyes. She almost forgot she was with a kid and he wouldn't be able to run at full speed too long without stopping, "Do you need to take a break?" She asked.

"N-No, just please go on ahead of me. I'll be fine here." He was worried about his friend and didn't want him to keep running away for too long. Why did he even run away? The lady was nice and helpful enough, Shouta wondered to himself.

She shook her head no and sat down against the wall too, "It's alright, we can rest for a few minutes." She smiled reassuringly at him.

"But what about Kazuma-kun?"

"The end of the hall here leads to the mainframe room. The only way out of here is back the way he came from, so we should be alright if we stay here." She answered, causing Shouta to smile and relax his breathing, glad that the chase was over (For now).

Tatenashi leaned back against the wall and observed the small boy in front of her. Well, at least she assumed he was a boy. The somewhat long (and somewhat familiar looking) green hair and loose clothing didn't exactly prove anything to her, and the effeminate face and voice just made it even more confusing.

"Shouta-kun, you don't know how you got here, right?" He paused slightly before he nodded his head, "Do you know where this place is at least?" She hoped he would say yes.

"No. Kazuma-kun and I woke up in an empty room before we met you. I don't even know how I got here since I was just going home from school." He answered sadly.

'_Well, that doesn't help things.' _She thought to herself. Now she was really confused. How did he get here when he didn't even know what the place was? She didn't think even Tabane Shinonono herself could explain.

"U-Um...Tatenashi-obasan? C-Could you please tell me where this place is? Maybe I can do something if I know where we are." He suggested hopefully. The place really did look familiar to him, he just didn't know where.

'_Hm, maybe that could work.' _Telling outsiders too much about ISA was considered illegal due to the neutrality from the Alaska treaty, but telling him some basic info should be enough to- Wait, what did she just call him?

"Unnn, Shouta-kun? What were you saying?" She asked as politely as she could. Unfortunately, he seemed to notice her change in tone and got even more nervous.

"Huh? O-O-Oh, I was just w-wondering if you could tell me where this place is. Maybe I could do something if I knew where this place was. Is it alright, Tatenashi-obasan?" He asked her again.

Tatenashi felt a small vein pop on her forehead. There it was again, that accursed word that everyone back home insisted they call her. Yes, she was the acting leader for now, but did the servants really have to call her "Oba-san"? She knew they meant no harm, but they were calling her the equivalent of Old Lady every time they greeted her.

It just made her so mad sometimes.

"Shouta-kun, why don't you call me nee-san? I'm not that much older than you." She answered, smiling sweetly in a "Do it or you might regret it" manner.

Thankfully, he seemed to pick up on her message and just nodded in affirmation.

She shook off any sign of her annoyance and quickly regained her composure. A proper lady – the student council president, no less – should always keep her cool no matter the situation.

"Well, this place is called IS academy, located off a private island near Odaiba. The only way to get here from a private monorail that connects the city to the Academy and only student's can use it." She recited off the top of her head. "Do you remember a monorail or something like that?" She asked hopefully.

He thought of it for a few moments before answering, " Umm, no sorry." His head drooped down sadly, "All I really remember is walking home and then...I woke up in the room with Kazuma-kun." He racked his brains to try and figure anything that might help him, "Wait, Tatenashi-neesan, did you say IS academy?"

"Hm? Yeah, I did. Why? Do you know anything about it?" Maybe she could finally get a clue as to how he got here.

"M-M-My Mom works here!" He stood up excitedly, forgetting his previous exhaustion, "That's why this place looks so familiar: I've been here before when she took me here when I was younger."

"Your mother? Are you sure about that?" She had stood up as well to make it easier to talk to him, "Can you tell me her name? We can probably find her if she's really here...as soon as we catch your friend." She'd almost forgotten about chasing after him after he said that she was the son of one of the teachers.

Nobody could exactly blame her: None of the teachers in ISA were old enough to have children who looked his age, and those who did were publicly known for being unlucky with men. A certain Sakakibara-sensei came into her mind at that moment.

"Yeah! If we find her, I bet she could help me and Kazuma-kun!" He answered excitedly. He was glad that something was finally going right for him.

"So, what's her name?" Maybe it was a teacher she didn't know. It was possible, considering she didn't memorize the entire list of teachers. She was sure the ones she knew didn't have any kids, though.

"Here name's Maya. Maya Orimura! She should be around here somewhere!"

* * *

><p><strong>Gotanda eatery<strong>

The 4 Gotanda's sat around the round table, each with different expressions on their faces. Ran's face had dyed a deep crimson as dark as her hair and her eyes seemed to swirl. Dan, on the other hand, just looked down at the table in utter disbelief.

On the other hand, the two adults on the table, Gen and Ren Gotanada, were pretty calm. Gen was still smiling, though his previous laughing from earlier had stopped, while Ren simply smiled mysteriously and sipped the tea on the table in front of her as if nothing was wrong.

"Oi-tan (Uncles), watsh wong?"

Of course, there was the last member of the family (Not counting their father who was usually out working) to take note of. Younger than just about everybody else in the room, she looked about 3-4 years old and possessed long hair and eyes in the same shade of crimson as Ran with the upper part of it being in a ponytail. Her clothes consisted of a simple yellow summer dress with duck designs and white shoes.

Right now, she was tapping on Dan's arm and looking up at him worriedly. She had evidently noticed his odd staring contest with the table and gotten worried about him.

It took a few more prods before he registered the young child poking him, "Huh? Oh, it's nothing Run-chan. Uncle's just tired that's all." He seemed to flinch when he called himself uncle, but the little girl (Thankfully) didn't notice and went to talk to her "mother" sitting next to Dan.

"Okaa-tan (Mommy), whersh tou-tan (Daddy)?" She asked the catatonic Ran sitting on the table.

Ran's face turned an even deeper shade of crimson (If that was possible) and she started babbling incoherently to herself as she buried her head in her arms. Thankfully, Ren seemed to notice her discomfort and answered Run for here.

"Ah, Daddy's not here right now, but you can see him soon, I promise." She smiled reassuringly to the young toddler. She smiled and went off exploring one of the other tables in the eatery. Good thing they closed the eatery already.

Truth be told, none of them knew exactly what was happening right now. Despite Gen's happiness and Ren's smiling, they had no idea where this little girl came from. They just found her sleeping at one of the tables when they went to clean up after the lunch rush and took her inside for her safety. It was to their surprise that she called them Grandma and Great Grandpa almost immediately after waking up and asking where Mommy and Daddy was.

They tried to decide what to do for the past hour, but all of them had turned up blank. Ran was too busy blushing and muttering to herself to pay attention to anything around her and Gen was still too happy about having a great granddaughter. This left Dan and Ren to think of a possible plan (With no results).

"Mom, we should probably make sure she's even really Ran's kid. For all we know, she could be someone else's." Dan suggested.

Ren shook her head in a no before answering, "I don't think so. She specifically called for Ran and her 'Uncles Dan' when she saw us. We didn't even introduce ourselves yet and she already called us by name."

"Does it matter where she came from? She's here now and she's safe! Best of all, I have a granddaughter!" Gen interjected suddenly. His happiness seemed to override whatever irrationality he possibly found in the situation.

"So you're not wondering how Ran was never pregnant for the past 4 years?" Dan asked his grandfather, irritated. "I think I'd notice if my little sister suddenly decided to get a kid and gain a few dozen pounds." He added sarcastically.

"I-I-I-I don't remember giving birth!" Ran finally joined the conversation. And even if she did, was it with the person she loved? There was only one person who could call himself that, and the thought of the two of them doing the deed. Him loving her with a gentleness born of years of tru-

Ran fainted onto the table, steam pouring out of her ears. Oddly enough, no one seemed to notice or care about what just happened.

"Well what else could've happened, Dan? She cam here through some kind of time machine and she's Ran's kid from the future" Gen snorted at how stupid he sounded saying that, "This is real life, not like those sci-fi manga things you read all the time."

"Hey, I didn't say that! At least I'm trying to look at it rationally!" Dan countered.

Ren palmed her face and sighed tiredly. The two of them would always argue about the stupidest things sometimes and she couldn't always stop them when they got too far.

"SHTOP IT! DON'T FIGHT!" A loud voice interrupted the two of them.

Everybody immediately looked to the source of the voice and saw the child they were just discussing about staring at them with tears in her eyes. The two men immediately stopped arguing and looked down in shame. They hated seeing kids cry.

"Look what you two did." Ren picked up a napkin from the table and went over to Run to wipe away her tears. "Shhh, it's alright. The two of them are just being stupid like they usually are." She comforted the crying girl.

In the background, Dan and Gen were pierced by invisible swords in the heart and fell to the floor in pain (or shame).

"GRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The two of them screamed in unison and immediately placed their arms around each other in a "friendly" gesture and smiled...forcefully.

"Yup, yup! Grandpa's just being friendly with Dan here! We weren't fighting at all! Right, Dan!" Gen said out loud.

Dan nodded rapidly and continued, "Yeah, just having fun with Grandpa here! We're not fighting, so please don't cry~" He smiled and hoped she would buy it.

She looked at them for a few seconds before the tears stopped and she suddenly started laughing, "Kahahahahahahaha~" She laughed cheerfully and clapped at their actions.

As Run laughed and cheered up from her previous depression, the two of them made a promise to each other.

They were going to kill whoever had the gall to do the deed with the Youngest Gotanda when they found out who he was.

* * *

><p><strong>IS Academy, Faculty hall<strong>

Chifuyu sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She'd been all over the school without stopping a for a single second to try and minimize the casualties of the rising rumors. She had already sent the majority of the students back to the dorm and was making her way past the faculty hall to the dorms.

"Tabane's the reason for this, I'm sure of it!" She muttered angrily to herself as she walked down the halls. She was currently making her way to the faculty dorms to take a small rest before attending the meeting later.

***Click***

The light to the room opened automatically as she stepped in and illuminated the above average size room.

The teacher's dorms were somewhat similar to the student's dorms. T Bed, computer, study desk, and small kitchen were the same, although they were slightly larger and more spacious than the former. On the plus side, teachers also gained more expensive things like bigger beds and faster computers along with extra luxuries like massage chairs (As long as you could afford it).

There was one thing that was off about the room, however: A girl was sleeping on her bed.

The first thing Chifuyu noticed was the long black hair tied into a ponytail by a pink ribbon along with the white blouse and modest black skirt. She couldn't see her face on account of her being face down.

"Hey, wake up" She shook her shoulder gently and woke the girl up.

"Ahnnn, where am I?" She asked groggily. Chifuyu had a good look at her face and nearly fell back in shock: It was like looking into a mirror and seeing a younger version of yourself. Now that she looked closer, she could tell that the girl was about 9-10 years old based on her appearance.

"Who are you?" Chifuyu asked her.

"Ko-Kotanoha. My name's Kotanoha." She said, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. "Do you you know where we are?" She tilted her head to the side. Chifuyu didn't know why, but she felt a shiver run down her spine with that name.

Chifuyu had to resist the urge to sigh again. How many problems was she going to encounter just today? The only way things could get worse was if Madoka got away.

"Come with me, I'll take you with me to the office. They'll know what to do with you" She waited for the girl to drop off the bed before introducing herself, "I guess I should introduce myself since you did it. My name's Chfuyu Orimura."

The girl – Kotanoha she called herself – paused before answering, "Did you say Chifuyu? You said Chifuyu, right? You wouldn't lie, right?" The girl had lost her grogginess and opened her eyes wide. She stepped closer and looked up at her.

"Uh...yeah." What was with this kid, Chifuyu thought to herself. One minute she was sleepy, and the next she looks like she drank 3 cups of coffee. "Come on, we should go to the office. Follow me." She made her way out of the room.

'_What luck, I got to meet her!'_ She smiled widely to herself. However, the smile felt...off somehow. Like it was hiding something dark.

"Hey, are you coming?" She poked her head back into the room.

Ah, I'm coming!" She walked out of the room energetically and followed closely behind Chifuyu. There was only one thing she felt sad about from the encounter:

She didn't bring a knife or anything to stab with on her.

'_Oh well, there's always next time.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Finally finished. Sorry for the crappy chapter, but I'm dealing with more college and I have to start beta reading White Knight after this. After that, I'll be re-writing chapter 1 and 2 to make more continuity between the latest chapters.<strong>

**I'll also update Laura's story arc in Daydreams since it's been a while. **

**Anyway, that's all for now. Please read, review, and forgive me for the bad chapter.**


	7. Update 2

**Re-did chapter 2:) Good news for most people: The past versions of Ichika and Dan are officially out. I need to introduce the kids first, so I'll leave individual plots like that out first. After they all meet up, then I might introduce character arcs, but I should focus on intros for all the existing kids first.**

**Speaking of which, after the intro arcs, I'll be making chapters chapters where either Ichika spends time with the kids and/or show the kids relationships with their parents. If you can, take a vote now on whose kid you want focused on first.**

**Please read it and I hope it's better than before.**


	8. Closing in

**Next chapter of Future Imperfect here! Since every kid's been introduced or shown at this point, all that's left is the meet up and interactions.**

* * *

><p>"Yuu, are you here?" Ichika shouted down the hallway and waited for a response.<p>

No dice.

"Yuu-san, please come out!" Charlotte yelled into another room. Once again, only silence met her call.

Ichika sighed and rubbed his fingers across his forehead. They'd been searching for the better part of an hour now and they still haven't found any sign of the brown haired child. He was beginning to wonder if he was hallucinating the whole thing.

"I-I-Is he anywhere here? D-D-Did you find him" A stuttering voice asked.

Of course it couldn't have been a hallucination, the proof was standing right there, clinging to Charlotte.

"N-Not yet, Charles." Charlotte instantly regretted her answer when she saw him tearing up, "W-We'll find him soon, though. Right, Ichika?" She turned to Ichika, eyes pleading.

"R-Right!" He all but yelled. Seeing others cry was bad enough. Seeing children cry was even worse.

"...Okay." He looked down and didn't say anything.

At this point, Ichika really didn't know what to do anymore. He insisted on coming earlier, saying that he had to help his new friend, but got progressively more sad as their search turned up nothing. Ichika really couldn't hold it against him. He was just worried for his friend, after all.

"Why don't we go to your room and take a break?" Charlotte suddenly suggested, turning towards him, "Maybe we'll have better luck once we take a rest." She smiled.

"Why my room? Your room's probably closer compared to mine." Ichika pointed out.

"Well...Charles hates crowds, right?" Ichika nodded slowly. She was right on that point. "Your room's more private and you don't have a roommate. Less chance of people barging in." She waved her left hand quickly as she explained, her right hand still being held by Charles.

"Huh, guess you have a point." He conceded.

* * *

><p>Saito grumbled to himself as he straightened up, pushing Aria off of him. His back was going to feel that one tomorrow morning, <em>'She shouldn't have tried to do that.' <em>He grimaced as he felt a crack in his back, _'Wonder where we are.' _He looked at the stored IS all over the hangar.

"Aria, can you call mom or dad? I'm going to look around and see if I can figure out where we are." He didn't wait to hear her answer before walking around the room to explore. The IS units lining the walls looked familiar to him somehow, he just couldn't place where.

"I think I've seen this model before..." He stepped closer to the Uchigane IS on the wall, "...Is this the Uchigane model? ...Looks really old." The last part came out as more of a whisper.

"Saito! I can't call mom or dad!" Aria's voice pierced through the air. Did she really have to scream so loud? He swore he'd be deaf before he reached teenhood.

"H-Hold on, just try to contact them again." He turned back to the Uchigane unit, red eyes narrowing in concentration, "This is...the old model of the Uchigane. Weren't these discontinued years ago? ...What's it doing here?" He wondered aloud.

No mistake about it, this was the 2nd gen units of the Uchigane series. Problem was that they'd been discontinued years ago to make way for the new mass produced 4th gen series. This was the first time he'd seen one apart from images on the holoscreen.

'_Are we in a museum then? That's the only place I can think of that would have one of these shown.'_ He sighed again. It was hard to remember how they'd gotten here. All he remembered was wondering what to cook for dinner and then...nothing.

"Saitoooooo!" She yelled again behind him.

"What now?" He didn't bother turning around and continued to investigate the unit. Maybe he could get a clue of where they were if he-

"That crazy guy's trying to open the vents!"

That got his attention. He stood up and looked to where Aria was pointing and found the black haired boy who ran in earlier trying to open the grate to a wall vent. He nearly forgot he was there in all the commotion earlier.

Heaving another sigh, he slowly walked towards him. If he was lucky, then he wouldn't be a crazy sociopath who'd try to chew his throat off.

"...Hey." He called out slowly. The black haired boy ignored him and continued to try and pull the grate off, "You know, you're never going to get that off. Vents can't be pulled by hand like that." He couldn't help but point out.

"...Know that, but have to try." He eked out in a whisper and continued to pull. He'd be damned before he let her catch him. Hopefully he could get away using the small vents. Better than staying out in the open where she could probably outrun him give enough time.

"Well...good luck." He shrugged and walked back to Aria, who was still busy fiddling with her phone.

"Any luck?" He asked hopefully.

She shook her head and frowned, "Nope, can't get a signal here." She showed him the phone's empty bar, "This really stinks. Mom and Dad were gonna come over tonight from work. What are they going to think when they can't find their cute daughter?" She gave a fake overdramatic sigh.

"They'll probably just think you snuck out to get more anime dvd's, like you usually do." The sarcasm in his voice was extremely obvious, "Anyway, since we're both here, we should probably find something that can help us get out of here. Any ideas?"

"Well, we could go through that big open door." She pointed to the large open door leading to the hallway.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." He pointed towards Kazuma, "He was running from something or someone and he came through there, so maybe going through there isn't safe."

Aria adopted a thinking stance before calling out to him, "Hey, what's your name anyway?"

"...Kazuma." He shook the grate for a few more seconds before letting go. Saito was right, he couldn't pull it off with his bare hands.

"Okay...what were you running from?" Aria asked again.

"Someone." Aria waited, but he didn't say anything afterwards. This was going to be harder than she thought.

"Do you know where we are? Maybe then we can figure out how to get back home." Saito interjected. No need to waste time asking pointless questions. All he wanted was to get back home.

"I'm not sure, but I saw someone wearing the ISA uniform earlier" He shuddered as he said the last part, "But I don't know if we're there or not."

Saito turned to Aria, confused,"...ISA? What's that?"

"Baka Saito, don't you remember? It's Mom's old school before. She told us she learned IS piloting from there, remember?"

'_Oh, so that's why this place looks so familiar. Something doesn't make sense, though. Those were old Uchigane units, I'm sure. ISA's supposed to be filled with the latest tech, so why would they have really old units?'_

"Wait, your Mother went to the IS Academy?" Kazuma unconsciously backed up. What if they were just like the rest?

"Hm? Yeah, but not just our mom, though. Dad also went here when he was younger." Aria replied.

"Your...father?" Now he was confused. It was well known only females could use the IS. That's why they were considered the ultimate in Black Box tech.

"Yup, he was a special case. He can pilot an IS just like mom could!"

"Wait, that doesn't make sense. The only special case who could pilot an IS was-"

Kazuma didn't get to finish his sentence before he froze again, face turning into a look of fear. Aria was about to ask him what was wrong till she saw what he was looking at.

"Are you sure she's your mother? Maybe you're mixing it up."

"No, I'm p-p-p-positive it's her."

Two people were walking to the room. She didn't recognize the green haired ...boy(?), but the taller one with blue hair was someone she knew all too well.

"Alright, once we get your friend, then we can-"

"Aunt Tatenashi!" Aria all but sprinted and tacked the confused teenage girl, nearly causing her to fall to the ground from the force.

"Wha-"

"Good thing you found us! We didn't know where we were." She stepped away, looking up to her before continuing, "Oh, this isn't just a trick so I could go get more CD's, promise!" She raised up her right hand in a pledge.

"Aunt? Does that mean you're really an Oba-san, Tatenashi-Obasan?" Shouta looked up at her with wide eyes. Did she lie to him earlier?

"What? No! Look, we should just find your friend and-Oof!" Kazuma elbowed her in the side before she could finish and quickly grabbed Shouta before trying to escape.

Keyword on trying.

"Not so fast!" She quickly stuck her hand out, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him back, making him lose his breath for a second.

"Let me go!" He struggled against her grip, but she refused to let go no matter how hard he tried, "I'm not going back! Let me go!" He growled out. He never hated being short more than now.

"K-K-Kazuma-kun, please calm down!" Shouta grabbed him by the shoulders to try and stop his trashing around, "S-She's trying to help us, so please calm down!"

"Help us! Don't you see what she's wearing?" He pointed at her uniform, "It's obvious what she's going to try and do." He breathing quickened, "If we don't run, she's..." His breathing suddenly stopped and he slumped forward into Shouta's arms.

"..."

"..."

"What just happened?" Aria asked, bewildered.

"Haaah, had to put him to sleep for a bit." Tatenashi let go of his collar, letting him slump fully into his friend's arms, "I don't know why he's so scared, but I can't bring him to the office or anywhere if he's trashing around like that."

"Auntie, I hate to interrupt, but do you know what's going on?" Kazuma entered the conversation.

She sighed.

"No, I have no idea what's going on."

* * *

><p>Ichika was a gentleman, or so he convinced himself. Living with his older sister Chifuyu had taught him to respect the opposite gender. So far in his life he had been a gentleman, like he said, and managed o keep in control of himself despite living in a school full of attractive females who (unknown to him) wanted to jump his bones.<p>

"Ohhh, so he's like that?" Charlotte wondered.

Yup, dad's the best!" He laughed slightly.

He was patient, calm, and never quick to anger. Never had he raised his voice when it wasn't due and never did he let anger dictate his actions. Yes, Ichika Orimura was a good man indeed. One who was always in control and always thought his actions through.

"So...does he talk about me a lot?" She asked unsurely.

"Yeah, dad always says how lucky he was married you. He says you're the best thing that's ever happened to him." He smiled up at her.

But right now, it took all his self-control and resistance to try and avoid telling the two of them how uncomfortable they were making him.

When Charles had asked to go with them in search of the missing Yuu, Ichika was adamant in his refusal at first. Bringing him along after his reaction to the crowd of females earlier didn't seem like the best idea. Ichika supposed that the boy had problems with crowds.

Unfortunately, Charlotte's (and Charles, oddly enough) smile of death pretty much ensured that any no became yes. ...What? Anybody would've said yes if they saw that smile. It was like a puppy pouting at you to give them food. Completely impossible to resist and even worse when there's two of them.

Charlotte suggested they take a break in his room before continuing on, saying his room had more privacy than anywhere else. It worked out well enough, Ichika took one bed and the other two used the other. Charles even calmed down more.

Unfortunately, that's when they started talking. Charlotte said it was just to help him calm down and to play along with his claim of being their kid.

It started out innocently enough. She just asked him questions like how his home and school life was. Eventually they started talking about his parents and Charlotte seemed to become more and more ecstatic the more she talked to him. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling she doing more than just playing along.

"H-He really said that?" Charlotte blushed and smiled. This was like a dream come true for the young Maiden in love. Even if he wasn't telling the truth, hearing someone say how great a couple they were/going to be made her feel lightheaded.

"Yeah, I hear the two of you talk on the phone every night about how he misses you since he has work and he can't wait to come back so you can...Uh, I think he said "Catch up"." Charles said the last line with air quotes, "You always do that when he says catch up. I don't know why." Charles tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Both teens faces had turned bright red when they heard him. Did he really think they...talked about it on the phone where their kid- No, where this child who thought he was their kid could listen in? If he ever found himself doing that, may he be struck down by lightning from the sky.

"Um...Charles, a-a-are you sure about that? Maybe you misheard." Ichika finally butted in, still red in the face. He had to stop this now before things got out of hand and...images started popping into his head again. A gentleman doesn't think of friends in that way, so sir!

"Um, well...you always tell me to stay away from your bedroom when you come back sometimes, so I tried listening in once." He didn't see the mortified faces of both teens as he continued, "Well, I didn't hear much, just you sounding like you were tired. You were exercising with each other, right?" He beamed up at them.

Neither of them had the heart to correct him - not that they really wanted to, anyway – and just continued on. He was way too young to be thinking about those kinds of things, whether he was their kid or not.

The next few minutes were quiet, the two teens faces continued to burn red as they mulled the child's words earlier.

'_We didn't do it...right? No, of course not. I'd remember if we did.' _Ichika shook his head left and right. He just needed to find Yuu then find both their parents after that he could put it all behind him.

Charlotte, on the other hand, was completely silent both on the outside and on the inside. If what Charles said was right, that meant she and Ichika frequently..."caught up" with one another, according to him.

The silence continued for a while longer till Charles remembered something his parents had told him a few weeks ago.

"Mom, Dad? When am I going to get a little brother, again?"

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Well...with the state I'm in now, I might have to consider retiring as the strongest in Academy city." He smiled slightly before moving forward again, "But still, I...I've decided to claim myself as the strongest in front of that kid."<strong>_

The show's ending song started up, signifying the end of the episode. Kanzashi and Yutaka sighed happily as the end credits rolled.

"Wasn't that romantic~" Yutaka sighed out happily. It'd been a while since she saw season 2 of Index and she was glad the kind nee-san was nice enough to let her watch. She did wonder why she didn't have season 6, but disregarded it.

"Eh? Romantic?" Kanzashi asked, "It looks more like a brother-sister bond to me."

Yutaka shook her head side to side, smirking sleepily, "Accelerator's tsundere for her, it's so obvious~ The signs are all there: He doesn't call her by her name until she's in danger, he always tells her not to bother him and then goes out of his way to do stuff for her~"

"Brothers and sisters can do that too, you know..."

Yutaka placed her arms across her chest, "Is it because of their age? People always use that as a reason to deny the One true pairing!" Her eyes narrowed dangerously at Kanzashi, "Or are you a WORST shipper?" She leaned in, looking suspiciously at the blue haired girl.

Whenever she watched anime, Yutaka felt like a different person. Her sleepiness faded and she would always be first to start discussing the things she liked and didn't like about it. Index was a old favorite of hers.

"...They do spend a lot of time together, and they're closer in age, so..." She mumbled to herself.

"How...How could you say that~ She's so mean to him all the time and keeps making fun of Last Order-chan. They couldn't possibly be-"

_**Now I face out. I hold out. I reach out to the truth of my life seeking to seize the whole moment, yeah.**_

Kanzashi heard her phones ringtone and quickly answered, even as the girl sitting next to her continued to ramble, "Hmm, it's nee-san." She clicked the answer button and placed it against her ear, "What is it, nee-san?"

"MOM, ARE YOU THERE!" A female voice screamed through the phone, causing her to nearly drop her phone.

"Hey, give it back!" The sounds of scuffling could be heard on the phone before silence again. Kanzashi hesitantly placed the phone back against her ear.

"...Hello?"

"Oh, Kanzashi-chan, sorry about that." Her Big sister's voice answered this time, "I have a bit of a problem here and I could use some help." She pleaded.

"A-Alright, where are you?" Kanzashi stood up from the bed and gathered the scattered CD's before placing them back on the rack.

"Down at the Hangar. There's...two people here who want to see you."

"Huh?"

"Just go down, ok? Bye."

***CLICK***

"Where are you going, Onee-chan?" Yutaka stood from the bed too and helped her gather the CD's.

"My sister asked me to go the hangar bay since she needs help with...something." She placed the last of the CD's back on the container and hid it under the blanket, "You can stay here if you want, I probably won't be gone long."

She shook her head in refusal, "Uh-uh, dad always says that then he takes hours doing something. I'm coming with you."

"...If you're sure." Kanzashi nodded. Secretly, she was glad to have company with her. Felt...nice.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>Finished for this chapter. By the way, If Kazuma, Aria, and Saito seem a bit too mature, then that's on purpose. Some of the kids are mature for their ages, which isn't that odd considering who their parents are. On the other hand, some are immature too.<strong>

**That's all for now. Next update will probably be on "The Soldier and the Bride".**


	9. The Beginning of the End

**From this point on I'll be switching between 1****st**** and 3****rd**** person view. There probably won't be too much of a difference anyways.**

**Anyway, if you haven't already, then leave a comment on which kid you want to focus on first and they'll be developed/more developed from there.**

* * *

><p><strong>POV: Asuka Orimura, 1<strong>**st**** person.**

_Ah, damn it, I really hope Aunt Tabane knows what she's doing. I really have no idea how talk to these guys now that they're just about my age. _I shook my head and tried to relax, _Okay, calm down Asuka. You can do this. It's not like this is the worse thing that's ever happened. Remember the zombie outbreak- On second thought, nevermind._

Aunt Houki looks like she just swallowed a whole bottle of salt, Aunt Laura's rocking back and forth, Aunt Rin and Aunt Cecilia are plotting murder, and Kuu's just muttering to herself. Wow, this is way different from what I thought they'd be like.

"Hey Auntie, what's wrong?" I called out to Auntie Houki.

"..." She didn't even look up, this must be really shocking for her. Come on, I know it's shocking, but she's Aunt Tabane's younger sis, she should be used to this kind of thing! She's the one who changed the worlds social structure, so this should look minor for her!

"Ichika-san and Chifuyu-san...hehehehe" Aunt Cecilia, you're making a really creepy face right there, you too Auntie Rin.

Ahh, this is so annoying! Dad was supposed to come home later on and mom was finally going to stop her 'You have to train, train, train!' attitude, at least for one day, and I could finally go more than 2 hours without her telling me to 'up my backswing' or 'don't aim between the legs'.

"I-Impossible, the instructor and my wife...together. It's...impossible, impossible, very impossible." Yes Aunt Laura, you've been saying impossible for a while now, I think we get it. Anyway, it's not as impossible as you think. Incest is very...alright, I kinda agree with you.

'_Okay, this has been going on long enough.' _I took a deep breath, "Hey girls, stop acting weird and calm down! This is weird enough as is, no need to make it worse by being crazy." Wow, calling them anything other than Aunt is kinda weird. Wonder how calling Mom by name will be like?

"Ichika, I'm going to kill him..." Waah, Aunt Houki, don't murder dad! You and him are childhood friends, right? Childhood friends don't kill one another!

"Asuka-sama, I don't think they'll be very responsive at their current state." Kuu 'helpfully' supplied. Thanks Kuu, I think I got that when Aunt Houki threatened to murder Dad. And stop adding 'sama' at the end. You're 12 years older than me normally from where I come from.

"Kuu, can you tell me everything you remember before you...teleported here?" I really doubted that she teleported her, but anything can happen I suppose. Just look at Mom and Dad.

"Tabane-sama planned to transport Houki-sama's future child here in order to convince her and Ichika-sama they were meant to be together." Oh wow, Aunt Tabane was crazy even when she was younger, "We had succeeded, but it had malfunctioned."

"Something doesn't add up. If you were trying to get Aunt Houki's kid, then why am I here?" I've watched enough Back to the Future to figure out there are alternate timelines, so I'm not really surprised about this.

"I don't know." She shook her head sadly, "There was something odd I noticed." She perked up, "Before the machine malfunctioned, it started to display rapid images. I'm sure I saw you appear there for a second, though it was barely a flicker."

"...Rapid images?" Looks like Aunt Houki's back. Probably heard Kuu mention about her kid and perked up. I heard she used to like dad when they were younger.

"Yes, Houki-sama. Different children, first yours, then others I didn't recognize." She placed her fingers on her chin, "If I can take a guess, it might have been from off-tangent futures; possible divergences when the timeline splits. That would explain Auka-sama's presence here."

"D-Does that mean that anyone could still get together with Ichika-san?" Aunt Cecilia interrupted. Uh, Aunt Cecilia? Could you please stop talking about dad like that in front of her kid? It's not very polite.

Kuu nodded, "Yes, I believe so. The Future diverges at different points and changes according to individual actions." She pointed to me, "Asuka-sama's proof of that, and others as well."

"D-Did you say others! How many kids is that idiot making!" That's more like it, Aunt Rin. Seeing you quiet was like seeing a puppy crying: Weird and unnatural.

"Excuse me, others?" Aunt Laura's come back to life now too. She stood up and walked towards us.

"If I'm correct, then Asuka-sama isn't the only one here. It's possible that all of the children from the refractions got taken and sent back, which would explain as to why the machine malfunctioned." She smiled slightly, "Yes, that includes yours as well."

"A-A-A-A kid with Ichika..." Aunt Rin, your entire face is red and you're slightly drooling. You might wanna cover that up; it's really unhygienic.

"Hmph, as expected of my bride." Why do you look so proud, Aunt Laura? Kuu said there were kids from everyone, not just you.

"I wonder if she picked up Ichika's laziness." That's not nice, Aunt Houki. Dad's not so lazy. And how do you know it's going to be a girl? Is this the fabled Maternal instinct people get when it concerns their children?

"I-Ichika-san must be bold indeed to charm such a high class lady." Wow, Aunt Cecilia sounds kinda snobby. Well, she's not exactly the most modest person normally, now that I think about it.

Everybody was quiet now, faces red. Oh, this is awkward. If it was any other time, the fact that their faces were steaming would be really funny, but it was just awkward at this point.

"Hey girls, please keep the fantasies to a minimum if you can. You're sharing a room with a kid, you know." They all jumped before fanning their faces to get rid of the redness. Too late for that, girls, I already heard you earlier.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about, Asuka-san." Yeah right, and Mom wasn't the White Knight pilot, "I'm sure you're just imagining things, don't worry." I really can't trust that since Aunt Rin still hasn't stopped drooling.

"R-Right, I'm sure whatever you were thinking was different from the truth." Aunt Houki was nodding rapidly, but the fact that her face was still red didn't really inspire confidence. I may be 12, but I'm not stupid.

"Anyway...we might want to get out of here and search around. Maybe we can find Mom and she can help." I suggested. '_Well, she's the only one who can contact Aunt Tabane except Aunt Houki, and I'm not sure about asking her right now. I heard that they didn't really talk to one another when they were younger.'_

"R-Right, lets go to the faculty office and find Orimura-sensei, she'll know what to do." Aunt Rin nodded.

The four of them filed out of the room wordlessly, but I stayed behind for a few seconds before grabbing Kuu by the arm, "Come on, staying here isn't going to help you get to Aunt Tabane." I dragged her and pulled her up.

"Tabane-sama, I hope she's alright..." She frowned again.

"Come on Kuu, there's no need to be so down." I smiled down at her, "She's probably on her way here right now in the giant carrot pod of hers. Aunt Tabane's just crazy like that."

She didn't answer but she stopped resisting and stood up. Good, at least I'm getting some progress here.

The two of us made our way out of the room before we bumped into Aunt Houki. The others were nowhere in sight, probably already on their way to the office.

"Ahem. Kuu was it? You mentioned before that you saw different children or...futures, right?" Why do you look so nervous Aunt Houki? It's not like it means Dad's a womanizer. Mom told me once that he barely acts any different from when they were still brother and sister when they got married.

"Yes, that is correct."

"Well then, could I ask you something important?" Uh-oh, she's using her 'This is serious, you better not lie to me about this or I'll make you regret it!' voice. I have a bad feeling about this.

"Of course." Kuu nodded slowly. Kuu, can't you read the atmosphere? Why are you so calm? Don't you see Aunt Houki's hand balling into a fist or the giant vein popping on her forehead?

"Earlier you said that there were many possible kids." She took a deep breath and paused, "Does that mean that...onee-san has a child too?"

"..."

"..."

Is it just me or did the tension suddenly get thicker? Kuu wasn't answering, Aunt Houki wasn't answering, and I was just standing there hoping the former would be okay and the latter won't pull a kendo stick out of nowhere like she usually did.

Kuu took a deep breath and finally answered.

"...No?"

...We're so dead.

* * *

><p><strong>POV: Maya Yamada, 3<strong>**rd**** person.**

"Eh, what do you mean there haven't been any visitors all day?" The receptionist just shrugged her shoulders and continued to look bored, "B-But there's a child here surely her parents must be here!"

"Look, I'm going to tell you what I told the other two: There's been no visitors at all for the whole day and even the whole week. Whoever those kids are, they're not registered here." Maya was about to interrupt but a glare from the receptionist stopped her, "And no, there haven't been any break-ins or unauthorized entry either."

Holding in her complaints, she muttered a small "Thank You" before making her way to the seats in the waiting area. She wasn't going to get anywhere here.

"Did you find Mother and Father?" Celeste-san looked up from her seat.

"No..." She shook her head sadly, "Nobody's been registered at all in the past few days, according to the receptionist."

"Oh... okay." She pursed her lips together and stared at her lap. This was a common thing for kids to do when they tried to stop crying. The thrill of being able to sneak away from your parent's must've worn off and now she missed them. Maya felt sorry for her

"I-I-It'll be alright, you'll see!" She placed a hand atop her the silver haired girls head and smiled, "We'll find your parents soon and you'll be back home before you know it!"

The first thing she knew when dealing with kids is that you should always stay cheerful, so they don't think anything's wrong. During times of crisis, they needed to know there was someone they can rely on or things will get worse.

"...You're lying."

"E-Eh?"

She shook off my hand and started pacing left and right, "Your voice is nervous, you stuttered earlier when trying to speak, and you were frowning before you sat down. Evidence points to you abstaining from telling the truth in order to try and comfort me." She stopped, turned towards her, and pointed dramatically.

"Isn't that right?"

'_W-What's with this kid? First she falls for fake gun laws and now she's suddenly a living lie detector! Okay, calm down Maya, you need to stay focused.' _She took a deep breath to steady her heartbeat. Losing her cool wouldn't do either of them any favors.

Mother told me that when someone stays silent after you accuse them of something, then it means that they're lying. I'm right, aren't I!" She jumped up and down, suddenly happy.

"Celeste-san, is there a reason you're asking so many questions?" She asked carefully.

"N-N-No reason!" She turned away and blushed, "I-I-I just wanted to prove that I could see through an adults actions. Just because I'm young doesn't mean that I'm naïve!"

'_W...Was that all this was? Did she just want to prove that she was right over an adult and that she was smart for her age? Celeste-san, that's very...petty of you. Also, that sort of rings hollow when you fell for a trick just a few minutes ago.' _

"W-Well, you sure proved that..." She forced a smile and laughed nervously; the second thing she knew about kids is that they liked to prove themselves right a lot of the time.

"Hmph, I'm glad you understand that." The pride in her voice was high, "I may have forgotten about the current gun laws right now, but that doesn't mean that I'm a fool. I'll prove to mother that-"

She suddenly paused and looked down sadly. Whether it was because she suddenly remembered that she was still separated from her parents or something else, Maya didn't know.

"N-Nevermind...it's not important" She seemed to visibly deflate and her energy vanished. Sighing, she sat back down in her seat.

Maya honestly didn't understand her. She switched moods between, serious, childlike, and melancholy at the drop of a hat. She decided to ask a question to lighten the mood.

"Celeste-san, could you tell me about your parents?" She still refused to believe her claims about having Ichika as a dad or Laura as a mom. It was biologically impossible the way they were now.

The silver haired girl didn't respond. Maya thought for a second that she had made things worse, before she answered again.

"What do you wish to know?" She didn't sound depressed and she had a bit more of her energy back. That was good news.

"Um...what do they do?" Celeste looked up to her in confusion, "I-I mean, what do they do for a living." She quickly amended.

"Oh, Mother works in the military as the Commander of a unit." She gestured to the badge at her shoulder, "They are called the Shwarzer Hase. Mother took command of them after graduating from High School." Her tone had a tint of pride in it.

"I see...and what about your father?" She followed up.

"Father is the best!" The girl jumped up her seat, nearly giving the Green haired teacher a heart attack, "He always sneaks me away from Mother when I want to go somewhere fun and always visits me even when he's busy." Maya could swear she saw little hearts dancing around the little girls head.

"I-I see..." She forced herself to smile again and ignore the voice at the back of her head telling her to keep quiet before she made things worse, "A-Anyway, what did you mean by sneak you away?"

"I got in trouble when I wandered off once and Mother grounded me."

"Is that all?" She got the feeling she was hiding something.

The girl blushed again and twiddled her thumbs together, "Well...maybe I nearly shot the Commander in the butt when he came to visit once." She grew defensive when Maya stared at her, "W-Well, i-it wasn't my fault! He surprised me! He shouldn't have come up behind me when I was shooting..."

"You shouldn't be shooting in the first place" was what she wanted to say, but thought better against it. She was trying to calm the girl down, not rile her up again and make things even worse.

"Dad's the only one who allows me to go out and have fun. One time we went on this amusement park and rode this reaaaaally high rollercoaster up to the top." She had replaced Father with Dad this time, "Dad was screaming all the way down the whole time and his face turned green!" She giggled fondly at the memory.

"I-I see, that must've been fun."

"Yeah, but mom found us after we left the park and got really mad." She pouted slightly, "She told me that I shouldn't leave my room unless it was really important and that she and dad were going to have 'private time' later to talk about what he did."

She didn't know why, but she felt something odd about the way she said 'private time'. Shrugging it off, she decided to continue the conversation.

"You must be really close to your Dad."

It was a simple observation on her part, but the girl took it as something completely different. Blushing, she took a deep breath before saying as loud as she could.

"Yup! When I grow up, I'm going to marry him!"

* * *

><p><strong>POV: Madoka Orimura, 1<strong>**st**** person.**

"Yup! When I grow up, I'm going to marry him!"

I banged my hand on the table, roaring in laughter as I watched the screen. I should've done this a while ago, staying in that room was so boring I thought I going to die of boredom. Going to the security room was the best decision I made today. Finding out everybody else was having trouble with kids was just a bonus.

"Oh God, did you hear that? That was priceless!"

"..." She glared at me and didn't speak. I don't know why, maybe it was the gag in her mouth. Those things do make it hard to talk sometimes.

"What's wrong, Ryoko? Cat got you tongue?" I teased. She gave me another glare but I just shrugged it off. It's not like she was going to do anything or go anywhere for a while, not with all that rope on her hands and legs.

"You know, you really should've just let me look at the Camera's earlier but instead you had to be 'You're not authorized to be here, you have to leave!' and bla bla bla" She glared harder at me and I smirked, "Bet you thought getting a job here was going to be easy, huh? The perfect job where you just stare at screens all day."

"Mmmmmph." Ah, she's finally talking. Granted, I couldn't understand a word she said, but it was a start.

"I know, it's nice to meet you too. You know, I think we're going to be the best of friends!" Her eyes widened and she wrung her fingers to try and break the rope. Heh, good luck with that.

"Mmmmmph!"

"Yeah, I imagine this different from what you thought your day would go. Still, life's more exciting when stuff like this happens, right?"

"Ngggggh..." Ooooh, some variety! Looks like she was finally starting to warm up to me.

"So why are you here, anyway? I mean you look young; early to mid 20's at most. Why aren't you out there having fun with friends or going out with a boyfriend? Doesn't that sound more fun than staring at screens the whole day?"

She started glaring at me again. Ouch, and here I thought I was finally getting through to her.

"Mnnggggg. Hmmmmph!"

"So your boyfriend dumped you and said it was because your chest was too flat and you decided to take this job because you were bored? Wow, that's really sad. I mean, I'm only 15 and I probably beat you in the chest department already." Her face is turning red. Wow, I never knew people could turn to tomatoes.

"Mmmmmph mmm Mmmph!" Now, I'm not an expert in Gag speak, but I could swear I heard a 'fuck you' somewhere in there.

"Why Ryoko, how you say that? I thought we were friends!" I did a fake sentimental gasp, "Well, if that's how you're going to be, then I guess I'll just leave. Have fun trying to untie yourself~"

"Mmmmph Mait!" Wow, I could actually make out a word there. Yay progress.

"Yes~"

"Mmmm Mowwy." Aw, that's so sweet I almost want to cry. I feel like we've made some real progress here even if we haven't known each other for long.

"It's okay, I forgive you." I ignored the fact that she was nearly crying and turned back to the security console, "Say, does this thing control the PA system?" She just nodded. Looked like she was finally tired of talking, "Well then, I have an idea."

I sauntered over to the machine and activated the mike.

"Excuse me, would everyone who has been in contact with children please gather at the dormitory lobby."

Now the real fun was going to begin.

* * *

><p><strong>I was supposed to update the Soldier and the Bride first, but I started writing both that and this at the same time due to insomnia. Eventually I just flipped a coin to figure out which I would update and I got this.<strong>

**Anyway, please read and review.**


	10. Closer than you think

**Well, some bad news: My laptop was stolen (along with my bag full of schoolwork), and all my files went with it. All the drafts I made for this story and any others are gone, so I'm starting again from scratch _ Annoying beyond belief, but I'm not giving up on writing just yet.**

**Nothing can be done about it I suppose, so wish me luck you guys.**

**Anyway, to answer some questions:**

**1. The reason they didn't recognize Ichika is because he looks different compared to his past version. More sure of himself, more well built, longer hair etc etc. The "maiden's", on the other hand, don't look that different apart from looking slightly more mature. Common stereotype in anime/manga where the mom tends to look the same as her teenage years.**

**There's also the fact that he doesn't act like a dope in the future, contrast to here:/**

**2. Yes, there will be flashbacks to how the other kids got sent back, but others won't be shown at first since they might spoil facets of their character or issues they may have. Not all of them are open books, as you'll see later.**

**3. The main protagonist of the teenagers is Ichika, as you all well know. On the other hand, the kids have no main character since this is a harem fic. If I do need to have a viewpoint character, it will probably have to be Saito Sarashiki since he's the most "normal" (for a given definition of the word) and has the least quirks or issues gained from his parents. Think of him as "The Kyon" of the fic.**

**4. Just because the narration says so, doesn't mean it's completely true. The narration tilts in the favor of whoever's on the focus. So the narration saying that "he's the best guy ever" doesn't make it true.**

**By the way, the cover's the closest pic I could get for Saito Sarashiki. Gotta thank ZeroXSEED for that.**

* * *

><p>"No, there must be some kind of mistake. Most likely a...flux in the time wave or something," Tabane muttered to herself, "The machine malfunctioned, there was a divergence glitch, and this resulted in the split." She finished in a surprisingly calculative manner.<p>

Tabane didn't know what was happening. No. More than that, she was beginning to think she was starting to go insane...er, if that's a word. Pretty ironic for her to start worrying about her sanity now of all times.

Everything was falling apart: Her lab was destroyed, most likely beyond salvaging now. Her recent experiment turned out to be a failure (And she spent 3 days on it! 3 days!). Kuu was gone, most likely teleported somewhere due to the machine malfunctioning. And to top it all off, this girl - and she had no idea who she was - showed up out of nowhere to say **very **ridiculous things.

"Mother, if you're done reminiscing, then we should really go soon. I wouldn't want to keep them waiting," The other voice sounded calm, like nothing was out of the ordinary or that she expected this to happen. While Tabane was trying to stay sane, she seemed to regard all this as a joke.

She sat on the ruined table like she owned the place. And, judging by the bored look on her face, she probably wouldn't have cared whether she did or not. A piece of broken...something sat next to her crackling electricity, but she ignored it and just yawned, most likely out of boredom. It wasn't like wanton destruction was anything new to her.

"Little girl, I think you're making a mistake," Tabane put on her 'professional' voice, something she never did for the last 10 years, "I only have one daughter, and she's not here right now," Speaking of which, she should really go find her. It was a good thing she planted that tracker on her when she was sleeping...what? Any protective mother would do that at the very least. At least she didn't put in the emergency gun implant.

"Oh no, I think I'm right," She had a self satisfied smirk on her face, "Let me guess: Another experiment gone wrong? Maybe you sent 4000 missiles at Japan this time instead of 2000? I heard the Generation 6 can stop an onslaught with a knife compared to the White Knight's broadsword," Though the smirk never left her face, her sarcasm was extremely biting. She didn't sound like any ordinary 10 year old.

Tabane was beginning to lose her patience. Who was she to make fun of her? She was great genius Tabane Shinonono! She didn't have to deal with this! When people laughed at her for her concept of the IS, did she cry and lick her wounds? No! She had her IS defend those ungrateful ingrates from those missiles coming for that city even when they laughed at her. Of course, how the missiles were launched in the first place was irrelevant.

It would take a genius to launch all those missiles, though.

"Listen little girl, I really think you're making a mistake," She was straining to keep her tone neutral. She hated dealing with uppity people, kids or not, "I only have one daughter, and she's not here right now. Now, I don't know what you're planning, or who you even are, but-"

"Usagi," She stated simply, interrupting the soon to be furious woman's rambling, "If you're going to lecture your own daughter, at least call her by name, will you?" Sighing, she hopped of the console and made her way to the end of the room, "And before you ask: Yes, I'm your biological daughter. Take a DNA test if you want to make sure."

And there she went again, making up nonesense. Her with a daughter made through natural means? Please, there would never be a man who could live up to her standards and intellectual superiority. Besides, there was only one man she would even consider giving a smidge of attention to, and it would've been more accurate to call him more of a boy than a man. If she would've made a kid with anyone, then it could only have been-

Wait, bad thoughts. No more. if she headed down that path of thinking again, it would feel like she was betraying her sister all over again. She already caused enough grief with the whole "Witness protection and leave the only guy you love behind for 7 years", and she still wasn't forgiven about that. Call her crazy (No seriously, please do), but she thought making and giving her the latest generation of the IS -completely from her own pocket, mind you - would win her some points on the 'forgiveness scale'.

On the other hand, she didn't get where she was by respecting the limits. When she found an obstacle, she didn't give up or try to go around it. No, she bulldozed her way through like any self respecting person should. The fact that she could summon missile launchers helped, though.

With that said, she decided to take a different approach, "So...assuming I believe these assumptions of yours," And that was a big if, "Can you tell me what you're doing here? This is a secure lab that changes its location every few days. No one can trace this place, not even the top government agencies."

She was right about it being secure. The base was mobile fortress, moving to a new country, state, or even the middle of the ocean if need be every few days. The entrances were sealed with a retinal scanner and only her and Kuu (And Chifuyu, Ichika, and Houki if needed be) were allowed access inside. If any sign of forced activity was shown then the automated IS would activate and deal with intruders at the entrance. If they somehow make it past that and get near the entrance to the lab, then the entire thing was set-up to self destruct; taking any equipment, files, blueprints and date stored inside.

It was a pain to rebuild again when or if it happened, but she wouldn't take any risks when it came to her work. She already made the mistake of trying to show her genius to the world once, and that just got her laughs and insults in return. Now when she was successful they wanted what she tried to share? Hah, no chance of that.

"Well, judging by that wreck," She made her way past the broken machinery to the giant circular machine, "I'm assuming this is a time machine, and you somehow sent me back in time. Or forward, but back makes more sense given the facts shown."

Alright, new problem: She knew what the machine was. This project that took her 3 days (3 days! That's a lot of time she can't get back!) to finish was supposed to remain a secret Everybody already overreacted when they found out what her First Generation IS could do, imagine what would happen if people found out she could alter the fabric of time.

They might find out the embarrassing dream she announced when she was 7! She made sure to delete all records of that damnable announcement, deleted all the pictures of said event, and even modified the memory of all those involved, her own parents included, to erase all trace of it. It was a closely guarded secret that no one should ever find out.

She also didn't like the implications that people could find things out about her and her activities without her telling them. If this little girl was a problem, then she needed to stop any possible threats right now before things got worse.

"Ah...hahahahaha," Her laugh sounded automatic and flat, "You're a smart little girl, aren't you?" Usagi gave her a raised eyebrow and a 'no, duh' expression in response, "Well, why don't we go to my carrot ride, it's right over there to your left (couldn't miss it, it was practically the only thing not crackling electricity or spewing out flames), and find you something to do while-"

"You push the button right next to it and send me as far away from here as possible?" She had to stifle herself from laughing at Tabane's open mouthed shock, "No thanks."

Tabane's words died in her throat. No way, how did she- Oh, this wasn't good. She was bigger than a risk, she was an outright threat. She knew everything about her lab, inside and out. Not even Kuu knew everything about the lab.

She had to salvage this situation now before she ended up in a government lab somewhere with a collar around her neck, "Wh-What are you talk-"

"Oh, here's a thought," Usagi interrupted her again, "That pod's the only way out of here and the only one still functioning. If you send me out of here right now, then you'll be trapped in this entire base with nothing but broken equipment and no choice but to go out and look for help, which will probably end with you being handed over to the government," Urk, she had a point there, "That's if you're lucky. If you had the bright idea to say: Park this thing in the middle of the ocean," The deadpan stare she gave her pierced through her like hot knives, "If you did that. Well, you're pretty much...I don't think I have to say it."

As much as she wanted to, she couldn't deny that she was right. In her haste to try and get the little intruder as far away as possible, she had completely forgotten that just about everything had been destroyed because of the accident. It would've been fine if it was just some functionality problems, but even she couldn't re-solidify something that had been melted halfway through. At least not without tools she couldn't.

"So what are you saying?" Tabane managed to finally ask out.

"Hmm, I say we both go in there and we leave this place," She held up her right hand in a 'stop' sign, "Before you ask: Not only will this save the both of us, but you'll find your...daughter as well when we arrive. It seems like a good idea to me," She shrugged nonchalantly, though the way she said daughter gave the older woman some doubts.

"How do you know Kuu-chan will be wherever we're going?" Tabane asked suspiciously, though the serene smile remained plastered on her face. She didn't like where this entire thing was going. Being powerless in a situation irked on her nerves more than that secret did.

Usagi pointed at the empty pod next to the carrot device, "If I remember right, that's where you made the experimental teleporter," The twitch on her mother's otherwise neutral expression confirmed her statement, "Well, it looks like it was activated shortly before everything in here...exploded, so I checked the destination prompter while you were still unconscious," She paused for dramatic effect, "Turns out the set point was IS Academy."

"IS Academy?" The purple haired woman parroted, "Oh, that's not good~ Chi-chan's going to get mad at me when she finds out!"

"Yep. Dunno why you had that as a preset destination, but it's good luck for me. If I'm getting the year right, then Father's probably still schooling there." She smiled when Tabane flinched at the word 'father', "I'm interested to see what he looks like when he's younger. But if you want, we can just stay here. I haven't had a chance to talk to you in a while. It's really a win-win for me either way."

Tabane wasn't sure. On one hand, she had some very good points which she couldn't deny. On the other hand, sharing a small pod with someone who she didn't trust and seemed to know everything about her really wasn't at the top of her list. She didn't get where she was by trusting random people who claimed relations to her. It wasn't the first time someone claimed to be her long lost cousin or some such to try and steal her research from her.

But Kuu was nowhere to be found and this Usagi claimed that she was blown back through the teleporter. It made a lot of sense, considering that only someone with her capabilities could make a teleporter that could work even when everything around it was falling apart.

In the end, however, her need to find her missing daughter - not counting the one in the room, who she really didn't believe - won out.

"...Alright, let's go."

Chi-chan was going to kill her for this.

* * *

><p>Nohotoke Honne wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed by a long mile. Frequently sleeping in class, at work, or even when she was waiting in line to get her favourite food. Working 4 days a week for her masterbest friend/childhood friend, taking the rest of the week off. And frequently forgetting what she was doing or about to do when something else became more interesting.

Out of all the people that knew this, no one came close to knowing more about this than herself.

She wasn't dumb, though she tended to act like it at times. Despite her ditzy nature, she was raised to serve the Sarashiki family, a family that was well known in the shadows. Coupled with that, the Sarashiki patriarch and matriarch both entrusted her with their youngest daughter, a responsibility they wouldn't have given anyone they didn't place their whole trust in.

She knew more than she let on at times, evidenced by the fact that she remained one of the best calibrators of the engineering class despite said sleeping habits and slacker attitude. As they taught her when she was younger; 'the best laid plans always happen when no one can see you coming'. Rarely would anyone look twice at the person acting ditzy or falling asleep standing up.

Which is how she found herself in her current situation, eating food with a bunch of kids she didn't know and acting like she wasn't paying attention. As her older sister told her; 'Sometimes it's easier to gain their trust and nudge them in the right direction rather than force them to do something when they outnumber you 4 to 1'. She wasn't confident she could tell all 4 of them to come with her and they wouldn't just run off. She was pretty confident in herself (as long as she got enough sleep), but even she couldn't catch 4 people going in different directions.

It had nothing to do with the fact that she was hungry or anything. No, this was all going according to her brilliant plan. The deep fried tempura was just a bonus.

The blonde haired child was the first to speak, "So, now that we're finished with our meal, I think we should talk about what happened here," Her voice was laced with a thick accent, most likely English by the sound of it, though her words were Japanese. Flawless one's at that. She must have practiced for a while or was raised in Japan.

"Eh? What do you mean C-chan?" The blue haired one gave her a look of confusion. Compared to the previous speaker, she had no discernable accent on her or any indication she was a foreigner apart from her (very familiar) features. The Blue hair and red eyes were giving her a headache, though she didn't know why.

The other two people at the table - The brown haired boy and girl - chose to maintain their silence and just stared down at the table, unmoving. Neither of them were supposed to be here and they let their hunger get the better of them instead of thinking rationally. Well...as rationally as two kids who had no idea what was going on, anyway.

"I mean why we're here," 'C-chan' clarified, "I was walking around the garden looking at the roses when suddenly I wake up here. I have no idea what's going on or why I'm here. I'm hoping one of you knows more than I do."

"That said, I believe that we should introduce ourselves properly to each other for proper communication," She suggested, "Oh, and please call me by my full name of Claire, everyone. Especially you, Sara-san." She added at the end with a poignant stare at the smiling nicknamer.

They didn't have much chance to properly introduce themselves earlier, what with being busy and all trying to stop the grumbling in their stomach's.

"Well, you can just call me Sara-chan, like I said earlier," Sara responded after her. Based on her mannerisms, it probably wasn't her actual first name. A last name maybe.

"My full name's a pain, so just call me Fuka." The ponytailed girl was the next one to answer.

That left only the short haired brunette boy, "Yuu..." He said nothing else.

Alright, now she was getting somewhere. All of the kid's were ignoring her, so she could listen in perfectly. Slowly, Honne leaned forward and placed her head down in her arms and pretended to sleep. If they thought she wasn't listening in, then they'd have no reason to try to lie or omit any details from what exactly they thought was happening to them. One thing she found growing up was that kid's tended to talk more when they thought no one was listening in. Especially not older figures.

Sara just shrugged lazily, "No clue. I was just skip- Um, I mean doing what my mom told me and practiced my memory training and now I'm here," She smiled and stretched her arms, leaning back on her seat, "I'm glad I'm here. It's way better than boring 'shape recognition'."

Alright, that was 2 down with neither of them knowing anything about what happened. The only ones left were the two brunette's.

"Alright, who's going first? Is it gonna be ponytail-chan or tomboy-chan?" Said two people twitched at the nicknames they received.

"I-I'll go first." Fuka was the first to comply. By her features, she probably had foreign blood on her as well, though Honne didn't know what. No accent either, so it was probably the same deal as Sara earlier. She was betting it was the 'raised in Japan' option.

"Well, I just came home and started cooking dinner for Mom and Dad when the power went out," She shuddered at the memory of the sudden blackout, "I went outside to check it out, but I couldn't see anything since it was already dark out. The entire street had no lights on."

She nearly injured herself when the lights turned off. Cutting radishes on a chopping board and complete and utter darkness really don't mix with one another. Reading a horror book right before you start cooking really doesn't help on the nerves either. Not at all.

"Sounds like a horror movie," Sara commented with slight excitement.

"Um, yeah..." She looked away from her, "Anyway, I saw something pop up behind me, but I couldn't see what it was. All I know is that it was blue since that's what the light colour looked like from behind me."

"What happened after that?"

She shook her head sadly, "I don't know...I woke up here and I don't remember anything else. The last thing I remember is the sound of electricity before blacking out. I'm as clueless as the rest of you here." She finished.

Okay, that was 3 out of 4 people here without any idea what was going on or why there were here. Honne wasn't getting anywhere and she actually was starting to fall sleep now, which would mean mission failure, having to report back to Tatenashi that she failed, and her sister was probably going to lecture her about it too.

She was more afraid of the last one than anything else.

Yuu didn't say anything for a few seconds and just took a deep breath. He wasn't used to talking to this many people at once. Not only that, but all of them were females. He had problems talking to the fairer sex since he was raised in a dojo where most of the students tended to be male. This in turn made any interactions with females without his parents awkward. Sara eyeballing him really wasn't giving him any good feelings either.

He was too distracted by his hunger earlier to notice what was happening. Only after shovelling the 2nd plate down his throat did he realize what just happened.

He started out slowly, "Um...I was sleeping in my bed for an afternoon nap when I heard electricity sounds," He recalled, "I woke up and looked around my room. There wasn't anyone there, but the entire room was covered in blue light," His voice sounded rough, like he was having throat problems or a cold. Odd, considering he had no problems talking earlier.

"So you were taken from your room?" Claire asked for clarification.

"I...I think so," He started unsurely, "I saw some kind of swirling...thing above me, and I think I heard voices, but that's it."

"Anybody you know?" Fuka asked.

The voice he heard sounded high pitched and cheerful. Did it sound familiar? He could've sworn he heard that way of speaking before somewhere at the back of his head. All he remembered was arguing, and his mother yelling at someone to leave her alone. The memory was hazy and he couldn't even remember much about it. It must have happened when he was still an infant.

He couldn't even make out the words. The most he could make out was his mother's voice yelling "Go away!"; everything else sounded like a garbled mess.

"No...not familiar at all."

Well, that was 4 out of 4 down, and none of them knew anything about what happened. Most of them slumped down at the table, hands in their arms copying Honne. This was beyond frustrating. None of them had any idea how they got here, why they're here, or even if their parents could find them. They had their confidence in their parents for sure, but even they doubted they had telepathy.

At least they knew they weren't kidnapped. Living with parents like theirs, most of them knew the basics of kidnappings and how to avoid them. They were found separately for starters, with no guards whatsoever to keep them in. They were allowed to move around, which was uncommon if you want to successfully use a hostage for leverage. In Yuu's case, someone even came to help him and was just as confused as he was as to what they were doing here. No restraints or locked doors either, which meant they could stroll on out of here whenever they wanted. It was only because they were still disoriented that they didn't do so.

At any rate, they weren't in any imminent danger at all. The teenager in the room with them didn't exactly give the 'do as I say or you get hurt' feeling. She even fell asleep on them. There was a new problem (well, not really) now though.

Sara wouldn't stop staring at Yuu.

It was subtle at first. He didn't really notice it at first since everyone was staring at him as he explained, then it got more and more obvious. Her eyes narrowed at him with a mischievous glint the longer he talked. Her mouth turned upwards into a smile and then an outright grin by the time he was explaining the last parts. It was beginning to unnerve him. She hadn't stopped doing it even after he finished. It wasn't because she was a girl. No, there was something about the glint on her eye that made him think he was in danger.

"...Yes? Is there something you need?" He asked hesitantly. Better to head this off now before something even worse happened.

"Hmmm?" She lazed around...lazily, making him feel even more nervous, "It's nothing~ I just found out something interesting~" That sing-song voice she was using was really grating on his nerves. Did she practice it in the mirror or something?

Hidden fact: It was required for members of the Sarashiki's to practice voice depth and pitch in order to manipulate a target easier. It was taught pretty early to most family members. Sara wasn't a master at it yet, but she was pretty adept at it for her 10 years of age.

"Oh? This sounds interesting." Not good, Claire had taken an interest as well. He had no idea what she was going on about, but the expression on her face pretty much screamed 'whatever it is, it's not good for you'.

Fuka didn't say anything and just peeked an eye out from above her arm. Honne didn't move at all; it was highly probable she had fallen asleep long ago.

"It's~ a~ secret~" She placed her pointer finger softly atop her lips and winked at him, causing another wave of nervousness to surge through him. She knew something, the way she said it all but guaranteed she wasn't lying. Besides, what reason would she have to suddenly lie about knowing something the others didn't?

"I wasn't given the Tatenashi name for nothing. The Sarashiki family's always been trained to find out facts about someone from something as a conversation. I found out something interesting about Yuu-chan when he was explaining something, that's all." She played it off like they were discussing each others favourite colours.

She'd just dropped a bombshell. As mentioned before, Honne was both the personal maid and the childhood friend of Kanzashi Sarashiki. Any mention of relation to said surname would garner her immediate attention and cause said speaker to be dragged before acting head Tatenashi for questioning if needed. This was a great development. Finally she was going to get somewhere and find out about these kids.

...Or it would be, if she hadn't fallen asleep halfway through everyone's explanations.

Needless to say, the only ones who heard the surname were the other kids, and they didn't see anything odd about it. To them, it was just a surname. Saying her first name, Tatenashi

"I-I don't have a secret!" Yuu denied hotly.

"Really?" She raised her eyebrow, "Your voice says otherwise. Don't worry, I won't say anything~" She smiled sweetly at him, "Every guy's got to have their secrets, right?"

"R-Right..." He nodded hesitantly. He didn't trust her on that, and he probably shouldn't, but even someone like him knew better not to antagonize her. Maybe she was just bluffing (doubtful), or maybe the secret wasn't as severe as the one he thought it was. But if said secret was actually what he was afraid of, then he had to be very careful.

Whatever conversation that could have continued was immediately cut off by a blaring announcement.

**"Excuse me, would everyone who has been in contact with children please gather at the dormitory lobby."**

All 4 of them looked at each other, back at the PA system on the wall, then at the sleeping Honne at the table. Technically they had interacted with her, and they did talk to each other, so that meant they 'interacted with children' as well. Maybe they could get some answers.

"Well, I guess it's close enough," Fuka jumped off her seat and strolled over to Honne, "If we're going to find the dorms, we're going to need a map," She searched around the sleeping girls pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a folded out map. They should be able to make their way there on their own.

Yuu blanched, "How did you know she had a map...?"

She just shrugged, "She seems like the type."

Fuka walked past him to the entrance, Yuu following close behind. Claire was about to follow her out before she turned back to the sleeping woman.

"Should we not wake her up?" She inquired, slightly worried. It didn't feel right taking this woman's belongings and just leaving her here, no matter how confused they were about what was happening.

Sara walked past her in a slight jog, "She'll be fine, don't worry~" Claire gave her a dry look in response, "I don't know why, but I get the feeling she'll be alright. She reminds me of someone..." She mumbled to herself as she walked out the door.

Claire was the only one in the room now. With one last look at her, she jogged to catch up with the others. She decided to leave the light on in case she needed it later.

* * *

><p><strong>For anybody hoping for a Tabane 2.0, don't worry. Kids tend to act different with their parents than they do with their friends and peers, so Usagi's not going to be a perpetual smartmouth like she was here. Ask yourself: Does Tabane really seem like good parent material? For me the answer to that question would be no, so this reflects on her child's character here.<strong>

**Also, I'm aware that the humour aspect is near absent here, but it's already close to the meet up. It'll be back shortly when things reach past the slope. **

**I'm gonna make a list full of the kids age and appearance in the next chapter, just in case anybody needs a full compilation.**

**Last note: The reason Sara said her surname was Sarashiki was because Tatenashi says the family's been active for generations. This makes it easy to assume that the one who marries in has to subsume the surname to the family. This is common practice with the low ranking family taking the name of the higher ranking family regardless of gender.**

**Also, Tatenashi once said that her name was given to either the eldest sibling or the only child in the family. Since Sara's an only child, this amounts to...**

**Next update: Either Synchronicity or The Soldier and the Bride. The latter's almost done anyway.**


	11. Chaos Strikes

**First thing: Read the end of the chapter for some last minute thoughts and questions. Since this is the end of the mass POV chapter, I'll have to do the character focus arcs next.**

**Heliosion: I did make a chapter which crammed every last meeting before they were supposed to meet and I was almost finished with it. Unfortunately, due to said laptop being stolen, I had to start over from scratch:/ The previous chapter I posted was already part of the finished compilation, and I had to re-type and remember everything I wrote down just to write it. I don't even think it's exactly the same, which just makes me even more mad about it. Sorry for dragging it out. It was supposed to end already so I can start on the main plot, but I had to make a compromise so I didn't go too long without updating (like when I posted chapter 2 and I went months with no updates).**

**Edboy4926: Unfortunately, no. My last backup USB was filled with a virus when my friend borrowed it for her project and I couldn't get a new one before said incident. I'd been putting it off for weeks now, mainly cause I wasn't expecting to get robbed on the way to school.**

**Lastly, this is mostly a Slice of Life/Rom-com story. There'll be serious moments here and there, but the main theme will remain intact all throughout. **

**Anyway, here's the list. Will be updated depending on future content.**

**Claire Alcott: 9 years old. Taking most of her features from her noblewoman mother, she has short blonde hair which ends just below her neck with a matching pair of sky blue eyes. The closest thing she has to her father's features are the slight curve she has in her eyes and accent when speaking Japanese. Seemingly raised perfectly with both her noble attitude and her expertise in 'commoner' affairs. Wears formal or covered clothing most of the time.**

**Yuu Shinonono: 7 years old. Taking and equal amount of features from both his parents, he has Ichika's short and somewhat spiky hair (albeit longer) and Houki's serious expression along with her obsession in kendo. Brown hair and brown eyes, he also takes a lot from his maternal grandparents. Full-blooded Japanese. Wears typical male clothes of shirts and jeans.**

**Shouta Yamada: 9 and a half years old. Short terms: Smaller Maya with no boobs. Specific terms: Takes almost completely after his mother's side of the family. Short green hair which ends in spikes just like his parent with green eyes to match. Wears glasses as well, though whether it's due to vision problems or not is unknown. Due to his frail appearance, he is often mistaken for a girl, a fact which irritates him to no end. Loose shirts and shorts are his constant apparel.**

**Fuka Huang: 9 years old. Unlike her mother, Fuka tends to be a tomboy at heart and prefers to deal with things in a practical manner. Long brown hair that reaches her waist (Usually tied into a ponytail) and soft brown eyes. Like her mother, she inherits a petite body which she finds useful for athletics. Prefers to wear shirts and athletic pants for easy movement.**

**Tatenashi Sarashiki: 10 years old. As the only child and born Sarashiki heir, she takes the first name of "Tatenashi" to signify her status. In both personality and looks, she's very similar to both her parents. Extraordinary skilled with a lot of things like her mother, and dense as a brick (at times) in the matters of social relations like her father. Her appearance and mannerisms are an almost complete copy of her maternal parent, something which gets her comments by some. Wears summer dresses for...whatever reason.**

**Charles Dunoa: 7 years old. In a bit of irony, Charlotte gave birth to what her father wanted her to be: An innocent child who admired his parents. A bit on the naive side, Charles is nonetheless a good person and a dutiful son. He inherits his mother's long blond hair and vivid purple eyes, a sure sign of his mother's French heritage, along with his father's naive and understanding view on others, which endears others to him even when he doesn't mean to. No specific taste in clothes.**

**Yutaka Nohotoke: 10 years old. A bit slow on the uptake, but that doesn't mean she's dumb. Rather than look at life with stress or worry, she chooses to let life go through its natural course and drag her along for the ride. Long peach colored hair that reaches mid-back and dull yellow eyes make it apparent who exactly her parents are. Wears loose pajamas and clothing, a habit which she picked up from her mother's old pictures.**

**Asuka Orimura: 12 years old. A bit of a controversial child. While Chifuyu certainly wasn't expecting a child from her tentative relations with her own little brother, she nevertheless welcomed her all the same. Constantly trained by Chifuyu to perfect her different skills, she gained a sort of lazy outlook on life and prefers to react to things rather than take them head on. Inherits her mother's looks, which isn't saying much considering who her mother ended up marrying. Wears tracksuits, though not out of choice.**

**Celeste Bodewig: 8 years old. Having grown up in or near a military environment, Celeste has admired the discipline in which her mother constantly displays and tries her best to emulate that, though sometimes she goes too far. Though she likes to put on a tough and mature front, some digging will show she's just a kid and acts exactly her age given the situation. Prefers to wear miniature knockoffs of army uniforms.**

**Run Gotanda: 2 and a half years old. The youngest child currently, Run is more disconnected to the current antics due to her young age and innocent worldview (She's 3, she can't have any other view). She inherits her mother's long red hair (which reaches her below her waist despite her young age) and eyes, albeit darker in color due to her father's natural pigmentation. Wears typical toddler clothes.**

**Usagi Shinonono: 10 years old (At least she appears to be). Unlike her chaotic and hyperactive mother, Usagi has a no nonsense attitude with things and prefers to get straight to the point with things. Unfortunately, however, she retained her mother's giant pride over her own intelligence, which she just loves proving to others. Carries her mother's long purple hair, but inherits her father's light brown eyes. Wears any casual so long as she can put a labcoat over it.**

**Kotanoha Orimura: 9 and a half years old. Kotanoha's...complicated. One thing that can be said about her is that she's certainly her mother's child. Rather than play with dolls or watch TV, she prefers to sharpen knives and practice her evil smile (coupled with laugh) in the mirror. Like Asuka, she retains her mother's features, though she manages to hide her grin when attention's on her. Prefers clothing that makes her look as non-threatening as possible.**

**Aria Sarashiki: 9 years old. Appearance wise, she certainly takes after her mother: Blue hair that curls inwards at the back of the neck, red eyes behind a pair of large frame glasses and a petite body type. Personality wise, however, she takes more after her aunt: Constant smile on her face, hyperactive demeanor, and bullheaded personality. Due to her status as a twin, neither her or Saito inherit the "Tatenashi" name. Compared to Saito, she has more natural skill and is a quick learner. An anime lover at heart, she constantly prefers dressing up in cosplay costumes, which Saito is unwillingly dragged into.**

**Saito Sarashiki: 9 years old. Anything Aria is, Saito isn't. The term two sides of the same coin would fit the two siblings well. In contrast to Aria, Saito has a docile personality and tends to have a blank look on his face. Despite Aria being more naturally talented, he shows he's the more mature of the two and has a practical view in just about everything. He retains his mother's blue hair and red eyes, but he keeps a shorter hairstyle like his father. Wears jackets and casual clothing, though frequently dragged into cosplay by Aria. **

**Kazuma Orimura: 8 years old. Quiet and distant, Kazuma prefers to stay by himself and tends to play along only when getting out is too troublesome. Appearance wise, he has an uncanny resemblance to Ichika, down to the same hair and eye color, unlike the other kids. Constantly calm and collected even when in danger, he still has a few things he's afraid of, which turns him into a blubbering wreck most of the time. Wears long sleeved clothing and pants, mostly to cover his body.**

* * *

><p>Chifuyu Orimura was a strong woman. God be her witness, she could do anything as long as she put her mind to it. Raise a little brother while worrying about school and finances at the tender age of 14? Fine. Deal with her best friend's (or as close as one she could get anyway) constant antics that constantly put the world at risk? Sure. Or even try to keep obsessive admirers out of her little brothers hair? She did that on a daily basis.<p>

But even she couldn't deal with the current situation.

"Hey, listen..."

No amount of strength, planning, or even IS' would help her here. She could face down an entire army with nothing but her trusty sword, she could hold back an entire unit of IS, and (last but not least) keep the overt affections of a certain German supersoldier at bay with a flick of her finger.

That reputation was well earned and with good reason. There has been nobody alive on this city, nay, this planet, that had ever seen her true rage. If it were to be unleashed, the catastrophic results would reach levels that were so destructive, so horrid, that the author's pathetic writing skills couldn't even begin to hope to convey it properly.

"You want some-"

"No, I don't want to eat anything!" Chifuyu yelled from her seat on the bed, causing Kotanoha to flinch back, tears in her eyes, "No wait, sorry. I shouldn't have yelled." She felt like smacking herself at the way she was acting. She was just a kid, she shouldn't be yelling at her for wanting to offer her food. She just...wasn't good with kids (except Ichika). At all. She was used to dealing with hormonal teenagers (and Tabane) by yelling at them or giving them a sour look whenever they did something she found wrong. Kids needed a decidedly more delicate touch.

"It's...It's okay." She nodded back and sniffed slightly, trying to keep the tears at bay. All she wanted to do was offer her something to eat and try to be nice. What was wrong with that? With a small sigh, she went back to the frying pan and started cooking something for the two of them to eat. Completely innocently and with no ulterior motives whatsoever.

Salt had skulls and crossbones over their labels, right? Well, it should add a little kick to the tempura.

Chifuyu's plan to call the other teachers or take Kotanoha to the staff room had ended as soon as she suggested it. Not five seconds after she reached the door, a loud rumbling had stopped her and Kotanoha explained that she was hungry. She wanted to tell her to hold it in and deal with it later, but she pulled out the damn puppy dog eyes. She consented and allowed her to get cook something (She said she knew how and Lord knows she certainly couldn't do it.)

She was a bit unnerved how interested she seemed in the knives, though. She hadn't stopped staring and licking her lips once she pointed out that they were new and hadn't been used yet.

To be completely honest, she found the entire situation (No, not the knives thing...well, that too) unnerving. She'd been friends with Tabane for a long time, and the current situation was undoubtedly 99.9% chance her fault. There was another 0.01% chance that this was all just a big series of misunderstandings and that she didn't do this on purpose, but what was the likelihood of that? She had a higher chance of taking out IS with a butter knife.

There's an incident she'd rather not repeat again.

Back to the topic at hand. She didn't miss her little new additions resemblance to her, nor did she miss her odd excitement upon hearing her name. She was well aware of her status as a tournament champion and worldwide IS pilot, but she could tell the difference from a fan's outcry and what she just did. Her expression and voice indicated understated excitement, like a child finding their lost toy after looking for it for a long time. As if she knew her beforehand.

Her voice screamed familiarity.

Ever since she saw that kid pop up in the classroom, her headache had only increased tenfold. Nevermind the fact that both she and Yamada had to cover for a sick teacher, but now she also had to deal with kid's claiming relation to her students? Today just wasn't her day.

"Chifuyu-san, I'm finished!" Kotanoha's voice screamed from the small kitchen. The smell of fried shrimp wafted into her nostrils, a smell she was all too familiar with. During their early years together, Ichika's cooking skills didn't have much variation. Shrimp and Ramen were his most common dishes until he started moving onto to the more advanced cuisine.

Chifuyu was wondering why she bothered yelling that out (considering she was the one who was hungry, not her), but she got her answer soon enough.

"Come on, come on!" Kotanoha ran over to her and started pulling her. Surprisingly she actually managed to do so, despite Chifuyu trying to stand her ground. Well, it was only because she didn't want to use force on a child. She wasn't feeling hungry or anything like that.

Without missing a beat, Kotanoha pulled back the wooden chair and pushed Chifuyu in it. Just as Chifuyu was about to protest, Kotanoha ran over to the small stove and used the spatula to scoop the breaded shrimp over to two metal dishes; one for each of them. The smell of the shrimp temporarily decreased Chifuyu's suspicion of her.

She smiled openly and placed the plates onto the wooden table. The metallic alloy of the plate contrasted greatly with the wooden surface of the table. Consequently, the table seemed to be the only thing in the room that didn't look like it was 20 years into the future. Chifuyu simply kept it around since it reminded her of past memories.

"What's this?" Chifuyu asked, pointing at the shrimp, "I thought you were hungry. Why are you giving me some too?" Not that she was complaining, but past lessons taught her to be wary about random gifts or offerings. Wine laced with elephant tranquilizers or chocolates mixed with Cantarella were some of the more exotic choices.

"Uh-huh, but you looked hungry too!" She leaned forward and placed both her hands under her head, beaming up at her, "I thought it might be nice if we ate together. Did...Did I do something wrong" She suddenly had a sad look on her face and pouted, much to Chifuyu's annoyance. The similarity in their faces made it look too close for comfort.

"No...you didn't do anything wrong." She took a deep breath and picked up the pair of metal chopsticks from the table. With some trepidation, she broke off the chopsticks and picked up one of the shrimps. Kotanoha hadn't moved from her position and stared in anticipation as she was about to take the first bite.

The closer it got to her mouth, the wider Kotanoha's smile got. Finally, she was going to do the one thing her mother couldn't, and prove her wrong for all those years. All those years where she made scenario's in her head, made plans, and trained herself was about to come to a head at this moment.

*Tsssssss*

...What was that sound?

Chifuyu looked down and immediately dropped the shrimp and chopsticks. Due to just being out of the stove, the shrimp was leaking oil. That wasn't a problem. No, the problem was that the spots that the oil stained on the wooden table had corroded and started to emit smoke.

"What the hell!" Chifuyu quickly stood up, knocking down the chair she was sitting in. Now that she paid more attention, the metal plate itself was also beginning to corrode. Since the plate was metal, it had started corroding at a much slower rate compared to the wooden table. If she had put that in her mouth...

"I-I-I-I'm so sorry!" Kotanoha stood up from her place and rushed over to where Chifuyu was before picking the plate and dumping it into the sink. She did the same thing with her own plate and grabbed it before Chifuyu could examine it further. She had to salvage the situation as much as possible. If she wasted this chance, she may lose it forever.

"That thing was melting the table! What did you put in there!?" She was aware she was yelling at a child, but considering she nearly acidized herself, she didn't think anyone was going to judge her too much for it.

"I-I must have added something weird by accident," She ran back to the sink and grabbed the 'seasoning' she was using earlier, "I saw it near some of the other condiments and I thought it would add some flavor." She hastily explained.

That was a lie. She had to scour the lower cupboards for it and even then it was practically hidden by everything else around the cabinet. Why was poison so hard to come by these days? She kept some under her pillow at all times at home.

Chifuyu grabbed the labeled container and looked at it closely. More specifically, she looked at the blatant skull and crossbones insignia at the front cover, "How the hell did you think this was seasoning? It has a skull and crossbones warning at the front! There's even a sign here that says 'Warning: Extremely fatal'."

...Crap, she needed to find a way out of this.

"U-Um, I was so excited about cooking that I didn't read it!" She squeezed out a few tears and did a deep bow, just enough so that her hands couldn't be seen going into her pocket, "I-I'm sorry, you've just been so nice to me that I thought I should do something for you too!"

Chifuyu sighed and tried to calm herself down. It was probably just an accident, nothing more. Was she seriously expecting a child to try and kill her? She was careful, not paranoid. She should give her a second chance and try to put it behind her.

"Sigh* It's fine..." She scratched the back of her head and idly took note of the small holes dotting the table. She'd need to find some way to cover those up and get some new plates since that rat poison(?) she accidentally added ruined those too. Good thing her paycheck was so high, or else she'd probably throw something.

"Th-Thank you!" She stepped forward and bowed even deeper, "I promise not to make any more mistakes. I just hope nothing will- Uwah!"

In her haste, she had 'accidentally' tripped (on what?) and fell forward, arms flailing all the way. Chifuyu's first thought was to go in and grab her, but something was off. Her instincts yelled at her, warning her to go away lest something happen. With only a moment to think, she chose to do the same the always did: Follow her instincts.

She made the right choice. From where her left foot just was, a large metal kitchen knife had pierced halfway through the floor, held tightly by the little girl's right hand. It was a good thing her face was down because the scowl she had on her face would have instantly given her intent away. Now if only she could stop her hands from twitching it would be perfect.

The fact that the knife pierced the floor at all was telling. The floor was made of the same metallic substance as the walls, a re-purposed alloy stronger than the common steel. The only way to even slightly pierce it using a sharp blade was if the person had an extreme amount of strength and/or focused hard on the strike. Considering the girl in question and the fact that the knife was halfway through, she'd have to go with the latter.

"...It was an accident?" A question, not a statement. Her voice sounded feeble and Chifuyu could tell it was an obvious lie. Both of her hands twitching were also an obvious sign.

"Okay, that's it." Chifuyu grabbed her hand (making sure to disarm the knife from her in the process) and pulled her up. She didn't care if it was uncomfortable to her. Considering the fact that she nearly got her leg stabbed through after another , she didn't think anyone was going to call her out on it.

"We're going to go to the office right now and look for your parents," She held up her hand when Kotanoha looked to interrupt her, "If I hear another word about how you're hungry, tired, or need to go to the bathroom, you can hold it till we find your parents. I don't want to risk any incidents like the bathroom suddenly exploding or beds falling on anybody's head due to 'accidents'."

Of course, that was if she had parents in the first place. If her theory was right, Tabane should be crashing at the school right...now!

"..."

"..."

Nothing. No explosions, no crashing, no falling debris. Huh, she usually wasn't wrong on these things. Well, it at least gave her time to pull the little 'accident prone' girl into the office without any interruptions. Assuming she doesn't pull a machine gun out of her butt or anything.

"Chifuyu-san~!"

Or not.

As soon as she opened the door, Maya charged in, face dyed red and panting hard. Had Chifuyu been a certain clumsy teen *coughIchikacough* she might've toppled over and end up in an awkward situation. Being who she is, however, the only indication that the younger teacher even smashed into her was Chifuyu's posture slightly staggering. Fortunately, she still managed keep hold over her would be assassins' hand.

"Ah, Maya, what's wrong?" She asked. She idly noticed the silver haired youngling from earlier was behind her with a completely calm expression; a complete opposite from her green haired escort.

Maya took a second to pant before answering, "D-Did you hear the announcement? Someone told all the ones who've had contact with any children to meet in the dormitory lounge. Maybe someone finally found their parents?" She said hopefully.

Announcement? She didn't hear about anything like th- Oh, that's right. The speaker at and near her room had gotten damaged due to a recent rogue soundwave attack (don't ask) and hadn't been repaired yet. The focus on her room struck her as odd, but she didn't really worry about it. It was probably Tabane playing a prank on her again.

_'Really? That's a bit convenient,' _Chifuyu thought, "Are you sure about that? Barely anyone knows why these kids are here and now we're being asked to go and gather them all up?" She was also worried at the implications of more kids. Just one of them was giving her a migraine, she couldn't imagine dealing with more than two of them.

"I'm sure!" She nodded strongly, "It said that we should meet by the dormitory lobby and that anyone else who's been in extensive contact with children should come immediately. The announcement said so, so it must be true!" She announced, much to Chifuyu's chagrin. Maya was what people would call a 'By the books teacher'. Chifuyu herself was pretty sure she broke a few rules already with that attendance book of hers.

Maya (unfortunately) noticed the somewhat struggling figure Chifuyu was holding onto, "Hm? Who's she?" She asked.

"*Sigh* Just someone who's really clumsy," She was mentally sighing in relief that Maya hadn't noticed their resemblance. That was a question she didn't like thinking about, "Come on, you said that we were going to the lobby, right? It's not too far from here, so we shouldn't have much trouble."

* * *

><p>"Mom, mom! What are we doing in IS Academy!? Is this some kind of surprise for us? Huh? Is it? Is it? I know you told us that-"<p>

Saito plugged his ears to drown out his sister's voice. He already had a headache and her constant questions to his...mother really wasn't helping things. Not that he believed she was his mother, mind you. She looked way too young, and so did (apparently) Aunt Tatenashi. Aria seemed to find nothing odd about them, much to his annoyance.

Kanzashi had arrived not long after her sister called her. Immediately after passing the door, Aria latched onto her and started heaping questions upon questions at her. She didn't know what was going on more than any of them and the impromptu interrogation had gone nowhere.

"So, you're saying that you're Kanzashi-chan's daughter?" Tatenashi questioned, "I do admit that you look a bit like her, but Kanzashi-chan's not the type to go around making kids. At least not without telling her dear old Onee-chan." She added slyly at the end, smirking at her blushing younger sister.

"That...That's right! I...I don't remember anything about any of this..." She mumbled feebly, trying to keep her blushing down. Yutaka had gone off to check the big computer at the end of the room and the other three males were sitting against the wall near the entrance, so it was only the three bluenettes who were discussing with one another (Saito had opted to stay out).

Aria just gave her a weird look, "Don't remember? Mom, what's wrong with you? Did you hit your head or something?" She stepped closer to her and attempted to check her head, an attempt which obviously failed given her short height. She barely reached past Kanzashi's stomach, so the best she could do was reach up past her chest on her tiptoes.

"No...I'm not sick," She lightly swatted the younger girls probing hands away from her midsection, "I just don't think any of this is real. I'm...probably dreaming or something."

Everything that was happening certainly did feel like a dream. First that girl Yutaka, now this. It felt like her normal life was being pushed down the drain without her consent and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"Hey, speaking of which," Tatenashi interrupted, "I've been hearing you call Kanzashi mom a lot, and me an aunt, but I haven't head you say anything about a dad," She leaned forward, hands on her hips and a big grin on her face," Tell me: Who's the lucky guy that swept my cute little sister off her feet?"

This time, it was Saito who answered, "We never usually call Mom or Dad by first name. Grandma and Grandpa told us that it's rude for children to call parents and elders by first name." He called out to them, much to their surprise. He had abruptly chosen to stay out of the conversation, so his sudden joining was slightly surprising.

"Ah~ Saito's always following the rules," Aria pouted puffed up her cheeks to show she was annoyed, "Here, I'll show you a picture so Saito doesn't get mad." She stuck out her tongue at him, "As long as it's not me or him saying it, we shouldn't get in trouble."

Both Kanzashi and Tatenashi had to admit that the rule was extremely familiar to them. In their own family, they were expressly forbidden to call their parents anything other than Mother/Father or any deviation of the word. It was an age old tradition the Sarashiki's always followed, like naming of the eldest/heir with the name Tatenashi.

As she fished around her dress' pockets for the wallet, Saito decided to initiate conversation with the green haired child sitting beside him. Shouta hadn't stopped staring at the unconscious form of Kazuma ever since he had been pacified. Saito was staring at him too, though it was for another reason entirely.

"...Is your friend gonna be alright?" He asked him.

"H-Huh?" He looked up slightly and nodded, "O-Oh yeah, I think he will. Kazuma-kun's been running since he saw Tatenashi- nee-chan earlier. He's probably tired..."

He sounded like he wanted to convince himself more than him. Saito was more worried about something else, however: His actions were atypical, even by most child standards. The slight fear he saw when Aria mentioned something about ISA was deep, he could at least tell that much. He wasn't as good in Aria in a lot of things, but he could at least accurately gauge reactions.

He didn't know what would happen when he woke up. Putting him to sleep was just a stopgap solution, and he suspected that it wouldn't last much longer. He sincerely doubted he could do any harm, what with him being the same age as him give or take a year, but watching people go crazy was never comfortable for him.

"Stupid Aria and stupid Higurashi..." He muttered softly to himself. That cursed anime made him paranoid over watching anything related to a person even being slightly off kilter. Good thing there wasn't a baseball bat or any other blunt force weapons.

"E-Everything will be fine when he wakes up." Shouta smiled slightly and placed his hand atop his friends shoulder, "He p-probably just misunderstood something about Nee-chan and ran away. It'll be alright once we explain to him."

Saito sincerely doubted that. From what little experience (Watching Higurashi) he had, he knew that keeping someone in the same room with the person/thing he was scared of was just asking for trouble. When he woke up, the most likely action he would take would probably be yelling coupled with some flailing and kicking. Maybe some tears too, if he really got scared.

It reminded him of something he heard once.

"Once Dominoes start falling, they have to keep falling. It is what they do. And they will pull down anything that gets in their way." He unconsciously muttered. Shouta gave him an awkward look but he chose to ignore it.

"Hey, you need to get your friend out of here."

Shouta jolted in shock and stared at Saito, who was staring at the three bluenettes. More particularly, the smaller one who tried in vain to find her wallet, "If your friend wakes up, he might start panicking again when he sees Aunt Tate- the blue haired girl (Remember: That's not my aunt). It'll be better if you explain to him and then come back," His voice was barely above a whisper and Shouta could barely hear it.

"H-H-Huh? But what if we get lost or something? I don't wanna get lost now that I know this is where mom works." He answered worriedly.

"It was just a suggestion," He reminded him, "It's your choice if you want to go or not. I'm not going to stop you either way..." Though he said that, he was sincerely hoping that he would take his advice. Besides, it wasn't like they could get lost in this place. His mom told them at one point that her school was a really easy place to navigate and that a 5 year old could do it with no problems.

Shouta thought about it. Saito had a point with his assessment and Shouta was hard pressed to find a reason for him to lie to him. On the other hand, he wasn't sure how well running would go. They'd already been lost earlier, and running around blind again really didn't appeal to him. Still, he knew that he had to help his friend.

"A-Alright, I-I'll do it."

Saito sighed in relief and stood up. If they were going to get out of the storage...place thingy, then no one should be paying attention to them. Yutaka was already pre-occupied with the IS specs on the giant computer, so all he had to do was distract Aria, and his not-mother/not-aunt.

"Wake your friend up, I'll make sure that you two don't get caught." He told Shouta.

"H-How are you going to do that?"

Saito's lips turned into upwards (extremely) slightly and he placed his right hand into his pants pocket, "Aria forgot that she gave me her wallet earlier when we were changing. If I show them the picture that should distract them for a bit. Just make sure to wake up your friend and get out as quietly as possible. He might start yelling again if he sees...whatever it is he's scared of."

"Y-Yeah."

Saito ran up to Aria and cheekily tapped her on the shoulder, "Aria, looking for your wallet?" He asked rhetorically. She didn't turn around and continued to rummage around her impractically frilly dress. He expected that, so he circled around to her front, and subsequently made sure the attention was focused on him.

"Not now Saito..." She patted the next pocket and found nothing once again, "Argh, I'm so sure I put my wallet in here! I wouldn't leave it behind-" She paused and glared at Saito. Rather, she stared at his right hand which was nestled in his pocket.

"...What?" He asked flatly.

"Hey, you had my wallet the whole time! Give it to me!" She demanded, somewhat red faced.

"What makes you think I have it?" He looked to the side slightly and saw Kazuma stir slightly before opening his eyes. Okay, now all he needed to do was make sure none of them looked back and hope Kazuma didn't start screaming his head off.

"B-Baka-Saito! Your hand's in your pockets! You're always do that when you're hiding something there!" She accused, "I told you to hold it earlier, so give it to me!"

Saito backed up slightly and tried his best to look past her. Shouta helped Kazuma up and placed his right arm around his neck, giving him the "Shhh" gesture. It didn't take long for the two of them to leave the room without gathering attention to either them. Amazingly, he didn't even hear a single tap or clack from their footsteps.

"Alright, here it is," He took his hand out of his pocket and held out the white neko-wallet to her.

She snatched it out of hands and looked closely inside. She knew she had a family picture around here somewhere. She kept it around ever since their last group photo as a family.

Next to them, the two sisters looked at the pair with a mix of amusement (Tatenashi) and confusion (Kanzashi). Though neither of them were going to admit it, the twins interactions reminded the two of them of how they acted when they were younger. Tatenashi always loved teasing her sister and Kanzashi was quick to demand her to stop. Of course, Tatenashi was usually the energetic teaser, not a deadpan one. And Kanzashi was less angry and more pleading. It felt like watching an odd inverse of sorts.

"It should be around here somewhere..." She rummaged through the wallet without luck, "Credits...credits...shopping list...mini death note..." She went through an increasingly absurd list of items before Saito decided to help her.

"Here, let me help you. You never could find things when you needed them..."

He held out his right hand and tried to help her rummage through the (surprisingly spacy) wallet. In her irritation, she smacked his hand away as hard as she could.

She instantly regretted it.

Though neither of the teens noticed earlier, the center of Saito's right hand was covered by a thin bandage that encircled both the front and back of his palm. The spot Aria hit had been right at the center of the bandage, which most likely meant she had hit the center of the wound .

Saito's expression didn't change much. His eyebrows curled down slightly and his mouth twitched slightly, but he gave no indication he felt anything.

"A-Ah, sorry Saito..." Her voice sounded weaker than before and the irritated expression on her place had disappeared. He gave no indication he heard her and simply reached past her and took out the small black book.

"You placed it here, remember?" He shuffled through the pages and took out the slightly crumpled picture, "You told me that you wouldn't forget if you put it in here," He reminded her with some slight sarcasm.

Aria accepted the offered photo with some slight hesitation. She was careful not to brush against Saito's hand; half afraid of agitating whatever wound lay there and half careful of him possibly dropping the photo. It was one of the few photo's she had of the 4 of them together, not to mention a physical one at that. Everything was holographic nowadays.

"Um...what happened there...?" Kanzashi pointed at the slightly unnoticeable bandage on Saito's hand. The pale skin made it slightly hard to see.

"Just...Just a scratch," He looked away from her and hid his hand behind his back. She may not have been his mother (At least he didn't believe she was), but her uncanny resemblance to her was very unnerving. Good thing she wasn't as good as spotting lies as she was...he hoped.

"Here, Mom!" She held out the photo to her, prompting Tatenashi and Kanzashi to group around her to see the small picture. Saito didn't join them and busied himself with checking on the bandage. Thankfully the wound didn't get agitated or any other discomforts. It still stung slightly, but it wasn't anything he couldn't ignore (or at least hide).

The picture, despite its slightly crumpled state, was obviously well kept for. The image within was of a simple family of 4. The man, who looked to be about mid 20's, was handsome, with slightly muscled features and a huge smile on his face. He had shoulder length black hair which had somewhat spiky ends. Leaning forward on his shoulders was a short haired bespectacled girl probably no older than 8 beaming happily at the camera with her hand pointing forward. There was a woman to his right, a bespectacled beauty that smiled at the camera shyly with a slightly reddened face. Between the happy couple, a blue haired boy (without glasses, oddly enough) stood holding both of their hands with a small (and nearly unnoticeable) smile on his face. All of them wore formal attire - Black suits for the males and white dresses for the females - which most likely meant they were in a fancy area of some kind.

"Wow...they look really happy." Despite the slow intonation of the voice, it wasn't Kanzashi who answered. For one of the first few times in her life, Tatenashi was nearly speechless. It wasn't just their odd resemblance to the Sarashiki's that shocked her, but also their closeness. Something like this couldn't be forged. She should know, her line of work had her fake happy photo's and flirting. She could tell the difference between something genuine and something faked.

"Yes...they seem really close." Kanzashi commented after, awkwardly looking at the close proximity of the two adults. The male looked familiar to her, but the reason for it escaped her. Something was gnawing at the back of her head, telling her it was important she know.

"Yup, I told you, right?" Aria gave the two of them a cheeky smile and dragged Saito (by his uninjured hand) over, "That was one of the few times Saito was smiling.

"Aria, get off..." He tried to shake his hand from her shoulder but she only snaked her arm around his neck and across his shoulders. She was stronger than she looked.

"You remember now, Mom?" Aria asked eagerly, "This was during Auntie Utsuho's wedding practice...though Yukari-chan was already 9 years old," She sweatdropped slightly, "I don't know why her and Uncle Dan didn't get married sooner. Maybe she was busy or something."

Neither of the two answered her; they were too busy staring at the man in the picture. Both of them recognized him, no doubt about that. The list of possible suspects wasn't that big. Neither of them knew much males due to their family's ways and their schooling. Sure they met the occasional male at the fancy parties they were forced to attend, but none of their faces registered in their memory as anything more than a blank slate. There was only one guy whose face they both remembered vividly.

"Ichika/Ichika-san!" The two sister's yelled at the same time.

The atmosphere tensed. The two sister's looked at the photo with a mixture of both shock and - in Kanzashi's case - pure unbridled embarrassment. Both of their faces were colored cherry red from their chins up to their foreheads. Even the usually bold Tatenashi was trying to form words in her mouth at the implications.

Yutaka, who had been ignoring them up to that point, had suddenly raised her head up lazily and called out to them, "Hey~ Why are you guys calling my dad~?"

A meltdown was imminent. Aria and Yutaka were clueless to the heaving atmosphere, but Saito was all too aware. Granted, he didn't know why it was happening, but it was there. What, did they think that their dad was the same person that bunny eared girl called dad? That was silly. It was probably just a coincidence and their names were the same or something.

"U-Um...Kanzashi-chan," Tatenashi struggled to find the words, "I guess you and Ichika-san have been really sneaky recently~" She slipped back into her more normal teasing behavior.

It worked. Kanzashi's face went from cherry red to blazing inferno. Steam was practically coming out of her ears and she had an even harder time than normal (very impressive considering who she was) forming coherent words. Eventually, she settled for the classical reactions: Saying random words that sounded like they made sense.

"No...that's...Um. I-I-I-It's not like...we didn't-"

**"Excuse me, would everyone who has been in contact with children please gather at the dormitory lobby."**

That was Kanzashi's cue to run. Both hands covering her face, she slipped past her sister and ran as fast as she could - which wasn't very fast at all to be completely honest - out of the door and through the halls. Tatenashi chased after her, dragging the two young bluenettes along as she went. Yutaka followed soon after and quickly enough the entire room was vacated.

"Wait for me~!"

* * *

><p>"Alright, what the hell do we do about this?" Dan roused the entire Gotanda family (sans Dad) from their dazed expressions, "We can't keep her here forever. We need to find out what's going on here!"<p>

"Uh-huh..."

"Sure..."

"Shut up, Dan..."

The reason the other three members ignored him (more than usual) was due to the small figure of Run sitting on the table nibbling on an ice cream. The orange popsicle hung lazily down her mouth and she clumsily and held the stick between her small hands.

"Mmmmm, dewicious!" She took the large popsicle out of her mouth and smiled happily at the three Gotanda's, causing their hearts to melt from the sweetness. Even Dan was tempted to throw everything out of the wind and just follow what everybody else was doing. He resisted the urge, albeit barely, and slapped himself to keep his sanity from taking a nosedive.

"Hey Ran!" He yelled, "Aren't you worried about where she came from or who the dad is?"

"Uh-huh, sure..." She was worried before, but all of that was a distant worry. Who cares if she had no idea where Run came from or who the dad possibly was? She was here right now, and she was so...damn...adorable.

"Damn it, you guys are being idiots..." Dan facepalmed and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down. Since when was he the sensible one in the family? That was usually his mom.

"Guys!" He slammed the table they were all looking to try and grab their attention. The loud impact echoed all over the empty store and shocked all of them out of their reverie. Unfortunately, he had another problem.

"*Sniff* *Sniff* Oi-tan..." Given that she was on the table, she was shaken out of the impact more than anyone. Like any other toddler, she reacted to the loud impact by dropping the thing she was currently holding: Her popsicle stick.

"Niii..." Ran's voice sounded emotionless and she stared at him with a look to match. It didn't help his mood one bit.

"You made Run-chan cry..." Grandpa Gen was holding onto the table tightly and cracks started to appear over the wooden surface.

"Even if you're my son, you should know that's unforgivable..." His mother's sweet smile hadn't relieved him at all, not one bit. He understood what Ichika meant by 'smile of the angel of death'.

What followed afterwards was so gruesome, so horrible, and so description heavy that the author couldn't find it in his spirit actually bother writing any of it. Let's skip to the short version: Dan round around the table like a maniac while Ran and Gen chased him with intent to kill. After the 50th round, Dan had bumped into the table, injuring his kidney, but, more importantly, jostling Run slightly from her place at the middle of the table.

This was it, this was the end. He was way too tired, not to mention injured, to continue running. He had no regrets. He'd lived life as an average high school student and he'd had his moments to shine. His only regret was that he couldn't confess how he felt to-

"...Daddy's number?"

-To Daddy's numbe- Wait, what?

Just as they were about to kill him, a paper floated down to his outstretched hand. He read it on instinct and immediately felt all of his strength returning to him. This was just what he needed to find. Apparently the only place they hadn't looked - her pocket - contained the exact thing they needed.

"H-Hey guys, look at this!" He held out the paper to them and both their anger immediately dissipated. That was...the key to everything!

"Dan, get your cellphone!" Gen yelled out to the slightly in pain teen.

Ren and Ran picked up Run (Try saying that three times in a row without getting tongue-tied) and left the room. Based on their expression earlier, they didn't want little Run-chan to hear what those two had to say.

"Already got it!" He picked up his flip phone and rapidly typed in the number. Finally, whoever had done the ultimate desecration against the youngest Gotanda (not that they were complaining of the results) would pay for his crimes.

In his haste, he didn't realize that same number was already recorded on speed dial.

* * *

><p>Kazuma hugged the wall, his breathing ragged. He didn't know how long the two of them had been running or even where they were right, but he didn't see any other people wearing the uniform, so he honestly didn't care. He was just glad he got both him and Shouta away before things could get worse again.<p>

"Finally got away..."

He groaned and clutched his arm before leaning back against the wall. It felt cold against his covered skin, which he found a blessing in the current situation. Cold metal means contrasting temperature, and contrasting temperature meant that it would be easier to stay awake. His eyelids were already growing heavy and it was getting harder to stay conscious.

The area around them was unfamiliar. It was brightly lit and advanced, just like everywhere else, and contained no shortage of holographic emitters on the walls which contained random numbers and figures. Other than that, however, there was nothing of note around the area. Judging by the fact that the two of them had only run past some hallways since the big room, they were most likely still inside the hangar bay somewhere.

Shouta saw his friends condition and shook his shoulder slightly, being careful not to jostle him too hard, "Kazuma-kun, please stay awake!" He shouted, panicked. His eyelids had gotten constantly droopy in the past few minutes, something which he found odd considering the non-stop running the two of them had been doing ever since they sneaked out.

Even when his friend was screaming, it barely registered in his head. Ah, damn it! If only she didn't put him to sleep earlier this wouldn't be happening! He could feel the tiredness and fatigue spreading over his system slowly. He could stay awake and slow it down when he was conscious and aware, but now it was spreading and there was nothing he could do about it. His brief moment of unconsciousness earlier left him defenseless.

He couldn't just pinch himself awake now. No, it was too far in at this point. He'd need to do something more drastic than a simple pinch or a light slap on the face. He'd need to do something that would really wake him up and keep him aware.

"Shouta...I need your help." Even talking took a huge amount of effort. His voice came out in faint whispers and Shouta had to strain his ears.

"Wh...What do you need?"

Vaguely, he could see him nod. Good, he couldn't do this by himself and he'd need help. He wasn't sure he could do it by himself given the chance. Somebody else who could pull it off even if he lost nerve was necessary.

"Shouta, I'm starting to...fall asleep again," As if to emphasize this point, his head drooped down dangerously before he managed to pull himself back up, "There's some tranquilizer in my blood and if I don't stay awake then I'm going to fall asleep for a while." He finished faintly.

"Wh-What's a t-tranquilizer?" Shouta questioned, a concerned expression donning his visage "D-Did Tatenashi onee-chan give it to you? I-I didn't see her do any-"

"No..." He held up his hands (which took considerable effort) to stop him, "She didn't do anything...I think. I was injected before I met you and I was getting sleepy since earlier," He groaned as another wave of dizziness hit. Everything was beginning to spin and lose shape, "Just please help me."

"Wh-Who cares if you fall asleep? If you fall asleep, then I'll just help you till you stay awake again!"

"It doesn't work that way!" He flexed his fingers to get the feeling back, "If I fall asleep, I don't know how long it'll be till I wake up again. I should've done this earlier to get rid of it but I was...scared." He looked slightly ashamed, "I need someone else to do it with me so it can keep going even if I don't want it to."

Shouta hesitated. Kazuma-kun needed his help and there was nobody else around. Would it be better if he went back to Tatenashi nee-chan and asked for help? He was really eager to run away from them and took the first chance he got to get away when he woke up. He might panic and run away again if he did it, but could he really help him by himself. Mou, think Shouta think!

"It won't be hard." Kazuma gripped the worrying greenhead's hand that was perched on his shoulder, "You won't get hurt and I'll be fine, okay? Trust me, this is better than falling asleep."

Seeing Kazuma's pleading expression, Shouta hesitantly nodded his head at him, "A...Alright, wh-what should I do?" He asked.

Kazuma didn't answer. Instead he just started pulling back the right sleeve on his long white shirt. Shouta waited patiently, heart beating in anticipation. He didn't know what his friend was planning, and the way he said he was scared of doing it gave him bad feelings, but he needed to be there for him when-

"K-Kazuma-kun, you're hurt!" Shouta's eyes widened and his mouth hung open from shock as he saw his friends arm.

What Shouta was referring to was the long gash on Kazuma's forearm. The white shirt had hidden it earlier and he didn't see it. The gash extended from the back of his wrist to near his elbow. Dry blood caked the surroundings of the straight line, though it looked like the scratch was already on its way to healing. He could see the faint marks of stitches, which looked crude and somewhat malformed. Whoever did them was either in a hurry or didn't care much about the person receiving them.

"It's alright, it doesn't hurt," He smiled at Shouta's concern, "Now, the tranquilizer's in my blood, so I need to get it out. Do you understand?" He nodded, still staring at the long gash, "I need to open the wound so some blood can seep out. The pain will also keep me awake in case not all of it gets out. First, I need to get it open and-"

"N-No!" Shouta grabbed onto Kazuma's arm, which the latter was already beginning to lift, "Y-Y-You said this wouldn't hurt! T-That injury looks painful!" He shouted, wide eyed and terrified, much to Kazuma's surprise, "I-I don't want you to get hurt..."

"..." Kazuma didn't know how to react to that. He wasn't expecting for him to show this much concern for his well being, let alone so much fear. Still, he couldn't afford to hesitate now, not when he didn't have much time left. With a deep breath, he shook his hand free, and, gritting his teeth to prepare himself for the pain, he smashed his arm forcefully against the cold metallic wall.

Shouta clamped his hands over his mouth to stop himself from screaming. The sound of the arms colliding with the wall created a sick mesh that sounded eerily like broken bones and torn skin. The sounds of blood dripping down the wall and onto the floor didn't help matters at all.

Kazuma tried not to scream, but it was an ultimately futile task. The pain reverberated all over his right arm and the feeling of blood squirting out of the wound followed not long afterward. He had at least managed to reduce the screams to pained grunts and whimpers. It wasn't much, but he at least kept himself from yelling his mouth off. The beginnings of tears had formed at the edge of his eyes, something he couldn't stop from coming out.

Shouta wasn't doing much better in this regard. While he had managed to stop himself from screaming, it was only because of the fact that both of his hands were currently clamped over his mouth. He wanted to scream, he wanted to yell out his concern, but the hands remained clamped over his mouth. His eyes were wide eyed in shock, and no amount of hands could hide it.

The would looked even worse than before: The stitches had come loose and split open, exposing the thin slice for all to see. Beads of blood red liquid dripped down his hands and onto his fingers. He was careful to angle his arm so that it faced down and avoided his shirt. Leaving marks would lead to further questions if it was seen, something he wasn't sure he would be able to answer if he was asked.

Kazuma took a few ragged breaths before looking back up again. He could already feel the drowsiness go away. Of course, said drowsiness was being replaced by the complete and total feeling of pain on his right appendage. Beggars couldn't be choosers and he was far from being rich right now.

"...See? I told you it wouldn't hurt," He forced a smile and looked at Shouta, who was still trying not to scream, "That was the hard part. Now all you need to do is hold down my arm till I say you let go." He held his shaking arm out to him, "When I say stop, make sure to put the sleeves back down so no one can see."

He didn't reply to the instructions. He just...stared at the arm being offered to him, "Shouta please, everything will just be pointless if you don't help me. I need to keep my arm steady so I don't lose too much blood and faint. I need your help." He pleaded with as much emotion as he could muster (which wasn't much).

That seemed to knock him out of his stasis. With shaking hands, Shouta slowly reached his hand out and put them under the offered arm, careful to try and avoid the blood. His lips were shaking and his eyes were glistening with tears, but he held on and did his best to keep it balance. Things were going to get worse before they got better.

Kazuma made sure to keep his hands angled perfectly down. It increased the bleeding by a bit, but it also made sure Shouta's hands wouldn't get stained by the crimson liquid. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of his hands, of which the blood had already reached as far as his fingertips. It wasn't too thick, so a couple of bandages or some water would probably be enough to make it seem like nothing had happened.

They held the position for about 10 minutes. Even if it was only a short time, it felt like hours had passed for the greenette. Thankfully, Kazuma's breathing had turned less ragged and the bleeding nearly stopped altogether. His arm looked normal again, if still covered by a huge gash and surrounded in dried blood was normal.

The blood from the wound spilled onto the metallic floor, the white tiles being stained by the red liquid. They wouldn't have to worry about cleaning that up later or leaving a trace. Automated robots from the academy would pass by later and remove the stain. It would be like nothing had happened.

"Shouta...thanks." He pulled the sleeve back down with Shouta's help. Miraculously, none of the blood had seeped into any of their clothes. Neither of them would have to worry about explaining what was going on so long as Kazuma didn't pull his sleeves back up.

"No...no problem..." His breathing came out in short gasps and he still stared at his now covered fore-arm. He wasn't going to forget what he had seen anytime soon, that's for sure, "Y-Your wound healed really fast, it's amazing!" He couldn't help but wonder.

"Yeah...I'm a fast healer," He grimaced at the amount of dried blood on his skin. The wound had stopped bleeding altogether and the pain had turned from sharp stings to a simple dull ache now. The stitches were still loose, but the dried blood covered it up and prevented anyone from seeing it so long as they didn't look too closely.

With that taken care of, it was on to the next problem.

"Uh, listen, can I ask for a favor?" He started, "Can you not tell anyone what just happened? I...don't feel comfortable answering any questions that people might ask about it." He fidgeted slightly and hissed when the fabric got too close to the incision. Damn tight shirts and pants. Made it feel like he was wearing a straight jacket sometimes.

"H-Huh? But shouldn't you tell a nurse or-"

"Don't worry," He tapped the wound lightly, "It'll heal on its own in no time. If anybody asks, just say I tripped and fell so I scratched myself. The stitches aren't that noticeable and I'll ask for some bandages later if I need to." He stared glumly at his exposed bloodied hand. If only he could find clothes with more coverage.

Shouta could only nod at the odd request. Being a bit of a loner at school, he didn't understand the concept of lying to adults. Still, his friend seemed really adamant about it and he wasn't going to fight him over it.

"Thanks." He took a deep breath, like a burden had been removed from his shoulders, "Are you alright? Sorry for asking you to do something weird like this. I didn't have much of a choice." He face took on an expression of shame before lighting up again, "You were really good, though. I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help."

O-Oh no, it's alright," He shook both of his arms quickly, face reddening at the compliment, "B-But, since I did something for you, can you do something for me too?"

"Um, sure..." He nodded.

"Well...I know you don't trust Tatenashi nee-chan, and I know you have your reasons and all, but I really think we should go back and meet up with them." He flinched slightly when Kazuma gave him an incredulous look, "I-I mean, she helped me earlier and even told me she'd help me find my mom. She only made you go to sleep because you attacked her earlier."

Damn, he had a point there.

"You're sure you can trust them?"

Shouta nodded his head rapidly, "Yeah, I-I-I think so! There were three other people like us there and they were alright. I think we can get help from them as long as we ask nicely."

Kazuma looked down on the floor and stared at the slight reflection it emitted. Something was off. This wasn't the usual thing he was used to. The blue haired teen, Tatenashi, hadn't attacked him or threatened him at all. When he saw her uniform, he just ran on instinct, fear driving his actions. What if he was wrong? Could he trust them? Bad things would happen if he made a mistake here.

"Alright," He nodded after much deliberation, "I'll follow you since you say it's okay. Where are we supposed to go? I'm not sure about this place." He didn't trust them, but he trusted Shouta. He'd done nothing but help him and it would have been stupid for him not to return the favor.

The two of the got up and started walking down the hall. Shouta couldn't help but notice that Kazuma's walking was more consistent now and that he no longer blinked every few seconds. The blood on his palm and fingers made him nervous, but at least he seemed to be doing better than before. Maybe that previous experience was worth it after all.

"W-Well, when you were asleep, we heard an announcement that everyone was supposed to meet in the lobby. My mom took me here when I was younger, so I think I can get us there if we look long enough."

Not good enough. Not that he didn't trust him, but he wasn't very keen on wandering around the entire school while nursing an injured hand. Kazuma sighed and asked, "Isn't there anybody we can ask? I'm sure there's someone around he who can- oof!"

Speak of the devil and he shall come. In this case, it was a she. Kazuma, looking at his friend, didn't notice the figure walking near the fork in the road and accidentally bumped into her. Keeping his injured arm steady, he looked up into who he just bumped into.

"Hey kid, you lost or something?"

Madoka leaned down and offered him a hand up. Normally she wasn't this polite, but there was fun to be had here. If she took these kids to the dorm rooms and left them there, then the amount of chaos would at least triple. More chaos meant more fun for her and more trouble for her dear big sister. It was a win-win for everyone (except Chifuyu, but who cares about her?).

She looked familiar. Somewhere at the back of his head he could see her image, her features. However, that was all it was: A faint memory. In his current state, he didn't care much for it nor did he find anything odd about it. He had other things to worry about. Like trying to keep himself calm and stop his shaking because of her uniform. He made an agreement with Shouta and he was going to see it through.

Hesitantly, he used his left hand to grab hold of hers and pull himself up. Straining his injured hand would obviously lead to bad results and possibly more bleeding.

"Ah, nee-chan, you're wearing the uniform!" Shouta shouted excitedly, "C-Could you please take us to the dorms rooms please? We heard that we were supposed to go there from the announcement earlier."

"Sure!" Oh, this way too perfect! She didn't even have to ask the kids to go with her, they were practically begging for it! She could just hear her older sister yelling in irritation when she saw another two kids popping up.

"Thank you!" He bowed deeply, "My name's Shouta and his name's Kazuma. Thank you for helping us!"

Yeah, yeah, she honestly couldn't find it in herself to care about their names. Most likely they were going to get kicked out of ISA anyway since they were just a bunch of kids. No need to concern herself with- Hold on, what was that smell?

She started sniffing the air, earning her a suspicious glance from the two younger kids. She didn't care, though, this was important. That scent was tantalizing. The main thing she smelled in the air was iron, which most likely meant blood. But this wasn't regular blood. Being who she was, the smell of blood had all been imprinted on her. This smelled different, foreign.

It smelled...familiar.

It didn't take long for her to figure out where the smell was coming from: The right hand from one of the kids she was oh so graciously choosing to escort to their destination. The smell of blood was faint and it was disappearing by the second, but there was no doubt it was there. The last time she smelled the same thing was when she brought the knife across her skin while she stared at the mirror.

That smell could only mean one thing.

"Another one?" She crouched with a smirk and leaned in closer to Kazuma, much to his discomfort, "What are you doing here? I would've thought someone like you would be somewhere else. I don't remember you or anyone else like you. I thought I was the last one." She commented mysteriously.

Kazuma looked away and growled slightly. She knew something, that much was obvious, "I woke up here with Shouta and we both got lost. We're looking for the dorms so we can find out where we are." He gave her a glare, which she received with a smile.

Why was his heart beating so fast? He had a sinking feeling on his stomach and his blood felt like it had frozen stiff. Something about him was familiar to her. He didn't know what it was and he didn't want to know.

"Whatever, it's none of my business anyway," She stood up and started walking down the hall, "Follow me if you want. I know the way to the dorms." She called back to them.

Shouta gave him a doubtful look but followed her anyway. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. She didn't seem as nice as Tatenashi nee-chan. In fact, he found her to be extremely creepy and unnerving. He didn't miss Kazuma's uncomfortable posture and expression when she leaned in closer to him. It was different from the primal fear he had showed earlier. It felt...unsure.

There was only one way to go now.

* * *

><p>"We're finally getting somewhere!" Ichika stretched lazily as he walked to the lobby, Charles and Charlotte following behind him less enthusiastically. That announcement's timing had been perfect and he was mentally thanking whoever had made it. Truly, a guardian angel had been watching over her at this chaotic time.<p>

Just in time too. Charlotte's questioning of the young child had gotten more and more uncomfortable. It was normal at first, if slightly odd. The minute Charles mentioned a little brother was when things got a little too personal. While both of them were silent about it at first, Charlotte immediately started asking a LOT of questions about what gave him the idea. His response of Charlotte herself supposedly telling him he might get one soon.

That was the start of the downward spiral of Ichika Orimura. Charlotte immediately doubled the speed of her questions, each time getting more and more personal ranging from how life was for the three of them to the minute details like how close the couple were whenever they spent time together.

Even worse (Better?) were the stares she gave him the more questions she asked. It was subtle at first: A side glance there, or a millisecond of eye contact. When Charles started answering where they usually spent their time together on their rare days off, Charlotte had stopped looking at the young boy and was outright staring at Ichika instead, red in the face. He couldn't describe the look on her face, but it wasn't bad...he wouldn't describe it as good either, though. His heart skipped a beat and he found himself swallowing nervously the longer she stared at him. It wasn't because of danger or anything, it was...something he didn't know. She was smiling, but it wasn't the same as her smile of death. He had a feeling she had no malicious intentions behind it.

Just to add even more fuel to the fire, Charles seemed to notice his mother's wayward stares and put two and two together. His immediate reaction was to run up to him and hug him, which he did, and the second was to wonder why he looked so much younger now and why his hair was so short. He excused that away due to not seeing him for a few weeks. He must've cut his hair and ate his vitamins so he looked healthier.

Just when things were about to go really bad (or at least he thought it would), the announcement rang out. He used that chance to immediately bolt past the entrance to his room and to the lobby. On a side note, all of the other students were staying at their dorm rooms. Chifuyu had gone around and threatened them with pain of Attendance book to stay in their rooms till the teachers sorted everything out.

Needless to say, both Charles and Charlotte hated the announcement's timing. The former due to losing any bonding time he could've had with his dad, and the latter because her imagination was just getting to the good- because it was really bad timing.

The three of them made it to the lobby and Ichika sighed in relief. Finally things were going to go his way.

"Dad, help!"

Or not.

Asuka made her way down the hall quickly, dragging behind a catatonic Kuu behind her. Following right on her heels was an enraged Houki, brandishing a wooden katana and swinging it wildly. Even farther behind her, Charlotte, Rin, and Laura were following behind her trying to stop her homicidal rampage.

"Dad, stop Aunt Houki from killing your daughter!" Asuka grabbed him by the shoulders and used him as a human shield. Houki's strike stopped mid-swing when she saw Ichika...then came down twice as hard when Asuka's sentence finally registered.

"Guah, Houki!" The Hokken imbedded itself on his shoulder and caused him no small pain. Asuka took this as the chance to ram Houki and take the bokken out of her hands. Kuu was flung back somewhat when Asuka pushed her, landing on the ground gently without a single change of expression. It didn't matter to her, the shock of being attacked by Tabane-sama's sister was too much for her heart to handle.

"Sorry about that dad!" She wrestled the stick out of Houki's hand and threw it to the corner of the room, "Aunt Houki went crazy when she thought Aunt Tabane had a kid! Sorry, really didn't mean to use you as a shield or anything!" She apologized hastily as she dodged a blow Houki aimed at her.

While the little fight was going on, the last three finally made it to them. They ignored the two tussling females and focused on the teen cringing in pain at the floor. He had to retract the whole guardian angel thing. He would've preferred staying in the room where his health wasn't in danger.

"Ichika, explain yourself right now!" Rin yelled, making the summoning motion with her right hand.

"And please be honest, I'm not sure I can restrain myself if I see you're lying." Cecilia titled her head and smiled. Behind her, he could see the muzzle of her sniper rifle aiming at the ground.

"Wh-What are you talking about!?" He yelled, panicked. This wasn't a joke! He was going to get killed if things got worse.

She wasn't a guardian angel, it was a devil in disguise! She planned all of this, didn't she? It was some evil plan to kill him. It wasn't finished yet, however. The last member of the unlikely trio waited till the others asked first.

She scowled slightly and unclasped the eyepatch, exposing her golden eye, "Even if you're my wife, there are some things you can't do! Having other children while-"

"Auntie Laura!"

Whatever she was going to say was lost into mystery as the small French boy knocked into her legs and pushed her down into a giant bear-hug. Part of her training included never hurting (unarmed) children, so all she could do was try to struggle as he tightened his hug on her.

"It's been so long since I've seen you! Mommy really misses you!" Laura flinched back as she felt Charles rub his cheek on hers. She had no problem with contact, but she felt uncomfortable when she wasn't the one initiating it. It was the same principle to firing a gun: She felt satisfied whenever she fired one, not so much when she was being fired at.

"W-Wait Charles, you can't do that!" Charlotte made her way to her friend and tried to pull her clingy son off, "Laura doesn't like it when people touch her without permission!" She tried to ignore the irony of the situation and help her friend as best she could.

Fate wasn't being kind to the young Orimura, however. As if Karma thought it needed to take out a few more negatives out of its checklist, 5 figures rushed into the already explosive situation. Ichika recognized two of them easily due to their sky blue hair. He also recognized one of them because of all the grief she caused him not a few weeks ago.

"Kanzashi-chan, wait! I was just kidding!" Tatenashi yelled, trying to calm her sister down.

"N...No...!" Kanzashi's blush hadn't receded even a little bit. It got to the point where everything was red and she could barely see anything.

This included the prone form of Ichika below her.

"U...Uwah!" She was never very athletically defined even among normal teens, much less the advanced students of ISA. She had no defense to tripping and she knew it. She ended up landing on top of him, heads almost level with one another. It was a good thing he had his eyes closed, or she would've been ruined for marriage.

"Owww..." Ichika moaned in pain as he felt a foot pierce into his calves and the feeling of air getting knocked out of his lungs. The back of his head also collided with the metal floor, sending his vision reeling. Good thing he had a tough body.

*Slap*

Scratch that, nothing could defend against the almighty powers of a powerful slap. When Kanzashi first saw their position, she had done what any person in her position would do. Thankfully, she didn't manage to do any more physical pain on account of her elder sister pulling her off of him.

The three kids looked at the scene with a mixture of surprise and confusion. None of them recognized Ichika, nor did they understand why he got smacked. Was it common for teenagers to slap each other in the face when they touched each other? Saito suddenly felt very afraid.

Though Tatenashi had successfully managed to pull her sister off the unfortunate boy, the damage had already been done. Cecilia and Rin saw Kanzashi barrel right into Ichika and their heads make contact. From their view, Ichika and Kanzashi looked like they kissed. As innocent maiden's in love (pfft), they did the completely reasonable action of summoning their weapons and taking the safety off.

"I~chi~ka~"

"Ichika-san~"

Ichika didn't have a chance to take note of the situation, what with Cecilia and Rin aiming their weapons straight at his head. Fortunately, a savior(?) came to his rescue before anything could happen.

"Alcott. Huang. What do you think you're doing?" Chifuyu's icy voice echoed all throughout the lobby. Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at the incarnation of the Oni, suddenly scared out of their wits. Even Asuka and Houki stopped rolling around on the floor (though they still had clumps of hair in each other's hands).

Charles' grip on Laura instantly loosened and Charlotte pulled him back as carefully possible. Kotanoha tried to loosen Chifuyu's grip on her to no avail. The hand was wrapped around her wrist like a ball and chain. Even Celeste, who wanted to see if her mother was doing alright, hesitated to let go of Maya's hand (who was also shaking) for fear of being swallowed by the demon. Everybody else was trying to keep their heart from going out.

"Everybody, explain what you're doing right now-"

"Hey, onee-san~" A cheerful voice interrupted her would be rant, "Wow, looks like you guys are having fun here. Don't mind me, I'm just dropping off a couple of things here."

Madoka laughed at her older sister's dangerous expression. Seeing that just made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, like watching Autumn nearly die or Squall twitching when things weren't going according to plan. Seeing those overtly perfect adults crack was better than any drug she knew.

"Madoka, how did you get out of your room!" She diverted her considerable anger (much to everyone's relief) at the new figure, "Get back there right now before you-"

"Ichika..."

For the second time that night, and much to her considerable annoyance, somebody had interrupted her again. Surprisingly, it wasn't one of the girls, but one of the small figures behind Madoka.

Kazuma pushed past Madoka and rushed over to the gasping Ichika on the floor, "Ichika...you're hurt." He raised his injured hand to Ichika's red face and touched it lightly. "The wound's not deep, you'll be alright..." His voice sounded airy, like he was trying to force words to come out of his throat.

"Wh- Who are you?" Moving his mouth hurt somewhat, but there wasn't any bleeding or anything serious. A couple of hours and it would heal up.

"Look out below~!"

The roof above them collapsed, showering the area around them with a small pieces of metal and concrete. Ichika encircled his arms around Kazuma and dodged out of the way just in time before a large metallic carrot smashed into where he just was. A second later and he would've been taking a dirt nap. During their landing, Ichika released his grip on the younger boy and he rolled away without anything keeping him in place.

There was only one person he knew with that kind of technology.

"T-Tabane-san!"

The metal carrot's top burst open and a small figure crashed into his stomach (painfully). Shaking his head, he tried to push it off only to find that whatever it was had an extremely strong grip around his chest.

"Wh-Wha-"

"Daddy, daddy~" Usagi removed the rabbit ears from her head and snuggled deeper into his chest. The sight would've been heartwarming if not for the fact that the killer aura around him wasn't choking every last breath out of his body.

"Ichika, could you please explain everything?"

"We'll let you live for a few more minutes if you tell us the truth."

"I promise the end will be painless if you say everything honestly."

Wait, didn't the conditions get worse? Seeing yet another child clinging onto him like a ragdoll, their pure feelings of love (Sarcasm...) re-ignited and not even fear of Chifuyu kept them quiet. If he didn't find a way to explain any of this now, he would seriously die!

***Ring* *Ring***

The quiet atmosphere was interrupted by the sound of a cellphone ring. The sane part of his mind reminded him that it was his cellphone and, with some difficulty, he managed to pull it out of his pants pocket (miraculously intact).

"H-Hello?"

"Hey, you bastard!" He flinched away from the phone when he heard the angry yet familiar voice screaming from the phone, "I dunno who you think you are, but what the hell were you thinking making my little sister pregnant!? I swear I'll find you and-"

"D-Dan...?"

"..." There was no answer. The phone clicked shut and the call was terminated. Whatever Dan had been yelling about, he had a feeling he wasn't expecting him to answer. That was one problem out of the way, now he had to deal with the other.

"Okay, think Ichika think! There's gotta be some way out of this, there just has to." He racked his brain for a solution, "Hm, maybe if I- No, that's not gonna work. How about-

"Ichika?"

"...I got nothing"

* * *

><p>Are you sure we should be outside? Yuu asked Tatenashi, "I thought everyone who's had contact with kids should go to the lobby?"<p>

"Trust me, you don't wanna go in there right now. None of us should." The ten year old heir stuck her tongue out mischievously.

The 4 of them had arrived at the entrance at last, but Tatenashi suddenly stopped and told them to wait before going in. Something about trouble and doom.

"Listen, we should really -"

***BOOOOOOOOM***

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHH!"

A loud explosion echoed from inside followed by the screams of anguish that sounded all too familiar. All 4 of them unconsciously flinched at the sound and stepped away from the door.

"..."

"You were saying?"

"Shut up..."

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue: End.<strong>

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**  
><strong>Wait, whatever happened to Honne?<strong>

**Finally finished! Damn, am I tired! Sorry if the last part seemed rushed, body pain hit me near the end and I wanted to put this out before resting for possibly a week or 2. **

**Anyway, finally done with the lead up chapters! Now that that's done, I have to get started with the character focus arcs. If you haven't yet, drop a name on who you want to be focused on and add some of your thoughts/criticisms in as well if it's not too much trouble. I'm trying to refine my writing style since it's pretty bad, so any other author's can also drop tips (Again, if it's not too much trouble). **

**Also, add an event setting: Pool, Hot springs, summer festival, school festival etc etc and I'll try to make chapters for those. **

**That's all for now. Wish me luck!**


	12. Cooling off

**Group explanation chapter. After this chapter I'll have to start with the individual chapters for everyone. So far the ones who got the most votes are:**

**Saito and Aria (Kanzashi's kids)**

**Celeste (Laura's kid)**

**Kotanoha (Madoka's kid)**

**and Asuka (Chifuyu's kid)**

**Of these 4, please decide who to focus on first.  
><strong>

**To answer some comments:**

**BloodTrinity - Kids of the kids? Uh...not likely. This isn't Back to the Future or anything, so most of the time travel is one-sided/temporary. The other question was how many people would be paired to Ichika? The answer to that would be the parents of all the kid's already included are the only ones who are paired with Ichika. Early on, I planned to add Natasha Fairs, Clarissa Harchouff, Chealsea Blacklett, and (I can't believe I thought this) Kuu. I decided to cut them out since I thought that might be going overboard.**

**Rabadash and Reader - No, that's not gonna happen. If something like that happened, the story goes bye-bye and the universe implodes. Ichika has like 14 variations of the future, while others only have two. Including any of the future Ichika's would cause the universe to implode on itself from too many variations. The other characters only have 2 variations (Kid or no kid) and could possibly be included, but not Ichika. At least not for now. Part of the reason why I took past Ichika and Dan out.  
><strong>

**Gamerof1458 - Uh, I don't get the question. If you're asking what the likelihood of making a beach/pool/whatever chapter for every character, then the answer would be zero. On the other hand, the likelihood of at least one of every event listed down is pretty well. Also, remember that some of the listed events are naturally group chapters (Like summer festival and Onsen), so that means the entire cast will be included in that chapter.**

**Heliosion - Hence why the kids will share scenes with their respective parent's come the end of this chapter. It should be easier to tell who's who after this chapter and their room assignments.**

**Meganeshounen - No comment . Still, I'm not surprised at the theory. It's not like I've been subtle about something being odd about Kazuma. While I won't say Yes or No to the theory, it should be blatantly obvious after this chapter that something's odd about all the kids, not just Kazuma.**

**Lastly, I'm kinda surprised no one picked Houki's, Rin's, or Cecilia's kid for the focus chapters:/ I guess it's my fault for not giving them enough characterization. I'll try to fix that in the coming chapters. If you see any spelling or grammar mistakes, I apologize. I don't have a beta reader and generally don't have the will to give the chapter complete re-reads every time,  
><strong>

* * *

><p>The atmosphere was tense - No, tense wouldn't be the right word to use in this situation. Tense was the word you would use when you found out a friend lied to you, or when you find out a friend forgot about a childhood promise, or even when you get mad at him for staring at other girls. Tense was used in situations where the problem could be easily solved with a single action.<p>

No. The word that would best describe this atmosphere would be 'Murderous', with a slight sprinkling of homicidal for good measure.

The setting of the 'not tense' situation was in the lobby of the dorm, most of which had been miraculously repaired in the short time it took them all to gather themselves without killing one another. The room was currently separated into three sides: The left side for all the affected teens and adults, most of who were sorely trying not to kill each other in very graphic fashions. Chifuyu, Maya, and Tabane were standing up, leaving the teens to sit uncomfortably next to one another.

The right side for all the currently found kids , who were doing a better job than their parent's in the 'not killing each other' department. Most of them were simply talking to one another and ignoring the teens/adults discussion. Still, Ichika could see some of them were paying attention, such as the boy with the spectacles or the girl who looked oddly similar to Laura.

Honne was still blissfully sleeping though. Ichika couldn't fathom how she could be so carefree when the situation was so tense.

In the center between the two groups was Ichika, who sat in a couch that felt way too spacious at this point for his liking and nursing a bruised cheek recently given to him by his best friend. The stares both sides of the group kept giving him certainly didn't help calm down his already shot nerves.

Needless to say, Tense was NOT the proper word to use in a situation like this.

No one wanted to talk, but Ichika couldn't blame them. He really didn't feel like talking at this point either. Hell, what was he supposed to say? "I'm sorry for somehow impregnating all of you and making illegitimate children without realizing it. Please don't treat me like a Gigolo"? Yeah, he liked his head at his shoulders and not rolling on the floor. Worst of all, how was he going to explain this to Dan? That guy was his best friend, and he really didn't feel good getting greeted by a punch in the face and being told that his sister was off limits.

The tense silence continued for another few seconds. Ichika couldn't help but take into account how different the two sides were. While the teens and adults looked ready to just about devolve into an all out fight, the kids seemed to get along relatively well and some of them were even introducing themselves to one another or chatting. The most unsociable one's he saw were the black haired 8 year old (most likely because he was wrapping his forearm with a bandage). The blue haired 9 year old with glasses who was reading a book. The silver haired 8 year old who was too busy muttering to herself. And the one who had an odd resemblance to Madoka (He could tell), most likely because she was handcuffed and gagged by a very irate Chifuyu.

Everybody else was talking along just fine...even the 3 year old.

_'I thought adults were supposed to be the more mature one?' _Ichika thought sarcastically, _'I can't tell which side is the kid's and which one is the adults,' _He sighed to himself and slunk further into the seat. He wasn't going to be the one who broke the silence. He was just as much of a victim as everybody else here was.

"So let me get this straight," Chifuyu mercifully chose to break the awkward silence, "You, in another one of your hair-brained ideas, made a time machine and tried to do what basically amounts to kidnapping and child traumatizing for something stupid again?" She sighed, "Just when I thought nothing you do will surprise me anymore, you go and do something like this. Wasn't the whole mass missile hacking thing enough?"

Now, normally what Chifuyu said would have gathered attention and questions, but at that point it just went from one ear and out the other. Future children, and especially the father of said children, was more interesting for everyone at this point.

Tabane flinched at the lecture, "Chi-chan~ How could you say something so cruel~?" Chifuyu just rolled her eyes at her childhood friend's overtly cheerful tone, "I just wanted to prove that Houki-chan and Ik-kun were meant to be together and then I would've put him back! That's okay, right?"

""""""IT IS NOT OKAY!""""""

The one's who stood up were Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte, Laura, Kanzashi, and (oddly enough)Madoka. The last one seemed to realize her outburst and sat back down, mumbling something about knives and stupid people. It was a good thing he wasn't stupid.

Ichika flinched when he heard his friend's loud screams, _'Well, I guess it's an understandable reaction. I'm not really a guy who girls go after and I really don't think I'd make a good boyfriend. They're probably mad that they had kid's with someone who's just a friend,'_ He did admit that he found his friend's cute and, though he would never say it out loud, sexually appealing. They would probably kill him ten times over if he admitted to that, so he chose to keep all thoughts about their appearance to himself.

"Th-This is unacceptable!" Cecilia yelled, "How could you do something like this without our consent!? It's a complete and total invasion of our privacy!"

"That's right!" Rin yelled after her frenemy in agreement, "You can't just do these kinds of things whenever you

"Um, who are you two again~?" Tabane looked genuinely confused at the British and Chinese girl's introduction, "You look kind of familiar, but I don't really remember anyone who's not important (to me) enough." She shrugged nonchalantly, "Well. I guess you got involved by accident or something~ Ehehehehe."

"Wh-What did you say!?" Cecilia looked positively scandalized at the response, "How could you say something so irresponsible? What gives you the right to-"

"Enough, Alcott."

"But!" Cecilia looked like she wanted to say more, but Chifuyu's small glare stopped any words that might have come out of her mouth. The other 4 took Cecilia's small reprimand as a chance to sit down without saying anything. They wanted to complain as well, though it was more on her doing it without their permission than the results. Any advantage a maiden in love could get over their rival's was something positive.

"That being said," Chifuyu did her best to keep her voice level and ignore the 12 year old across her that looked eerily similar to her, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused? The school day had to be cancelled, all the students are confined to their dorms, and we now have 15 kids here with no idea how to take care of them or how to send them back. I don't care why you went through all the trouble of doing this, but you're going to send them back one way or another."

The Alice in Wonderland copycat gulped at her friends extremely angry (for her) voice, "Well, about that. It's not that-"

"She can't~" Tabane stopped talking and gave a look that said 'Shut up!' to her miniature counterpart. Usagi just looked at her and stuck out her tongue mischievously, "Mommy broke the time machine and she probably can't fix it now that her lab got destroyed. The big machine thingy looked really high tech, so it might take her a few months or even years to fix it." Of course she left out the part where she took some components out while mother dearest was unconscious. She could have some fun here, and she wanted it to last for a while.

"..." Chifuyu didn't say anything, but everybody in the room (Except the sleeping Honne) immediately felt the temperature of the room get drastically lower. Looking closer, Chifuyu's eyebrows were knitted together and her lips were twitching slightly, most likely in extreme frustration. The fact that her hands were periodically grasping at her arm tightly wasn't a good sign either.

"W-Well, there is another way!" Tabane hastily interjected, "If Ichika-kun spends 'enough time'" She said the last two words with air quotes, "with someone, say Houki-chan for example, the timeline could repair itself because of who he 'spent time' with."Hey, if she was going to get killed for this, she might as well earn her sister's forgiveness and gratitude.

"Um, what happens to the other kids?" Charlotte asked. Neither she or any of the other girls were exactly blind to the implications of the word 'spend time', but they knew better than to make a fuss while Chifuyu was ticking. A chance wasn't good when they were dead.

"Well, there's a good chance - 50% chance, actually - that they'll be sent back to their current time with no problem whatsoever. This is faster than rebuilding the time machine and less troublesome for everyone, right~?" It was sound logic.

"Wait, 50%?" Ichika gave her a suspicious look, "Then what happens to the kid's on the other 50% Will they get stuck here?"

"Well...no," She looked uncharacteristically hesitant. Not a good sign, "If you do that, there's a chance that it will cause destabilization and end up corrupting their corporeal forms here, which could end up with all the other kid's not manifesting properly in this timeli-"

"She means we might die or disappear..." Everybody turned their attention to Kazuma, "If Ichika chooses someone now while we're still here, there's a good chance we'd get overridden and cease to exist. If she can't fix it, most of us here are likely going to disappear." Nobody could see it, but he was glaring at the bunny eared mad scientist through his long bangs with a look of pure contempt.

"Hey, I did say it was a fifty-fifty thing! All experiments have a risk when it comes to proving the hypothesis!"

There was a tense silence that followed the announcement. No one wanted to speak- No, it was more like they couldn't find the words. Would they be murdering them if they tried anything? Should they ignore everything and just send the kids to temporary homes? They weren't used to this sort of thing.

"...This is so stupid."

Chifuyu, along with a substantial percent of the others, glared at Madoka's nonchalant statement.

"Why are you all taking this so seriously? I mean, I know you guys aren't the smartest bunch," She laughed at the angry expression the others flashed at her, "But do any of you seriously buy any of this garbage? Kid's from the future? Tch, sounds like the delusions of someone who's been under too much drugs. What's to say these kids weren't hired or just came here by accident? Your security system isn't exactly top notch," She smirked, "I should know, I broke in here a few weeks ago."

"Madoka-san, that's really unfair," Ichika interjected, "Considering all the weird things that happen here, shouldn't we be careful so that nothing happens to the kids? I'm just as skeptical as the next guy, but do you have any proof that these kids are just actors or wandered in here by accident?"

"Proof? How about the fact that I'm infertile and it's impossible for me to have a kid?"

Ichika wanted so badly to reply to that, he really did. Unfortunately, nothing came out. How could he rebut something like that? The others weren't having any better luck, though in their case it seemed to be mostly cause they didn't care. None of them were fond of Madoka by any means and merely tolerated her presence.

"What, you're actually surprised?" Madoka gave a genuine look of surprise, "Did you really think that they'd give someone like me augmentations and upgrades without making sure I could go rogue and give them to someone else?" She leaned forward and placed both hands under her head, "I'm surprised you didn't know about this, though. It's not like Soldier girl is any different than I am-"

"Shut up!" Laura glared at Madoka fiercely, "If you value your life, you will stop talking right now!"

"Aww, was little Soldier-chan keeping it a secret? Well, it's too late now!" If looks could kill, Madoka would've been buried alive under concrete and multiple lacerations, "Besides, it's proof that there's nothing like stupid time travel going on here. Since all of you are so insistent that all of us have kids here, I'm telling you right now that it's impossible."

Laura stood up and grabbed the knife strapped to her boot, "I don't care if you're the instructor's family! I won't hesitate to hurt you if you spread any more of things about me!" Charlotte moved to grab her best friends hand, but Laura shoved it away. She couldn't afford to back down from this,

"Oh really?" Madoka leaned in closer to her and gave her an amused smile, "Then I hope you can make your first shot count, cause you're not going to get a second chance after the first-"

"Enough!" Chifuyu grabbed both of their heads and smashed them together...hard. Everybody winced at the audible crack that echoed all over the room, "Time travel or not, we have to deal with this now!" She took a deep breath, "Tabane, fix that time machine of yours and do it as fast as you can. I don't care if it'll take you months or years. You're staying here at the academy where you can't run off and we'll get you any materials you need, but you're not leaving this place till it's finished."

"But Chi-chan-"

"Kids," She turned her attention to the other side of the room, "Go with whoever your mother is, or who you think your mother is, and stay with them for now. Until we can prove whether this is time travel or not, you'll have to stay here where we can keep an eye on you...except for you Gotanda," She turned to the redhead, "I'll see what I can do about giving you an early pass to come here to the academy, but don't hold your breath or anything. Just make sure that you don't lose the kid or anything."

"Y-Yes!" Ran stood up on impulse and bowed deeply. One didn't live without showing the Brunhilde proper respect when she was mad.

Ichika watched with slight awkwardness as he saw the kids make their way to the other side and to their supposed maternal parent. While some of them were looked eager to do so (Run, Claire, Charles, Shouta, and Aria in particular stood out), there were those who looked hesitant to go (Saito, Kotanoha, and Asuka were the most obvious). Their 'parent's' gave them looks which ranged from accepting (Houki, Cecilia, Charlotte, Rin, Laura, and Ran), hesitant (Maya, Kanzashi, and oddly, Tatenashi), disbelieving, (Chifuyu, Tabane, and Madoka), and sleepy (Honne).

_'Well, that solves that for now...'_ Ichika breathed an internal sigh of relief, _'I still need to call Dan after this and explain, not to mention try not to get killed if- no, make that when the others get mad at me. After that I need to-'_

*Plop*

"Huh?" Ichika looked to the side and saw Kazuma wordlessly sitting down next to him, "Um, you have to go with your mother." He reminded him gently. Kazuma ignored his reminder and continued to sit down next to him without saying a word, though a ghost of a smile could be barely seen on his face.

"Okay, now that's that- Hold on." Chifuyu gave a hard stare at the raven haired child, "I said go with your Mom, not your Dad," She grimaced at the word, "Hurry up and go to your maternal parent so we can finish this up."

"..." He scooted closer to Ichika. Chifuyu walked closer to him and grabbed him by the uninjured arm to try and pull him off. He annoyingly refused to budge for even an inch.

"Didn't you hear what I said?" While he didn't seem to notice, some of the others certainly did. Those who weren't too busy with their own affairs were staring at the miniature scene the woman and the kid were making. Usagi and Madoka in particular had odd smiles on their faces, though they kept it hidden behind their hands. Better not to get involved unless it was necessary.

"Who's you maternal parent?" Chifuyu asked him again, "We need to find out room assignments for all of you, and we can't do it unless all of you cooperate."

He refused to look her in the eye, "I-I dont-"

"Little brother, stop bothering Mom!"

Chifuyu felt herself get shoved aside slightly as Asuka pulled Kazuma into an impromptu hug, "L-Little brother?" There was an odd redness that spread across Chifuyu's cheeks. If they didn't know better, they would say it was a blush. But really, Chifuyu blushing? There was a bigger chance of males suddenly being able to pilot the IS.

"Yeah, you had another kid after me," She smiled forcefully and pulled the struggling teen closer to her, placing an arm around his mouth in the process, "Otouto(little brother)-kun loves playing games with mom, so he does these kinds of things all the time," She took note of her mother's oddly red face, "Why do you look so surprised? Having a second kid really isn't an issue once you get past the whole incest issue you already crossed."

"...I give up." Chifuyu turned back at the gawking teens, "Take your...kid and go back to the room. We'll discuss this further in the morning. Orimura, take the males and go to the boys large bath. The females can freshen up in the regular bath's."

"Y...Yeah..." Ichika nodded meekly,

"Sarashiki, inform the students via announcement tomorrow about the general situation and make sure to leave all the time machine or time travel nonesense out."

"Yup, yup~" Ichika could tell she was forcing herself to sound like her usual enthusiastic self. Her silence earlier in the discussion had been a pretty big sign. Maybe the fact that Sara was clinging to her arm with a big smile on her face had something to do with her nerves.

"Tabane, you go to the assigned room that will be given to you later. I don't want to hear a single complain out of you or any unnecessary explosions. Are we clear?"

"Yes..." Ichika almost felt a smidgen of pity for her, he really did, but the fact that she was the cause of this entire situation crushed any notion of that."

"Alright, see you all tomorrow then."

"Uh, hold on Mom!" Asuka tightened her grip on the struggling boy, "I think Otouto-kun wants to say something, so you can go on ahead. I still know the way to your room, don't worry." She gave a forced grin.

"Do what you want." Chifuyu was honestly too tired to care at this point.

One by one, all of them started to leave the room. Soon the entire room was empty, save for the two of them.

Making sure the coast was clear, Asuka reluctantly let go of the struggling child, "Jeez, you don't let up, do you?" She shook her fingers and sighed, "Nearly bit me when I was trying to help you. Is that how you treat someone who's trying to help you?"

"...Why did you do that?" He gave her a suspicious glare, "Do you want something? No one does anything without expecting something in return?"

"Really? Jeez, I'd hate to see how you grew up," She patted him on the head and grinned, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, alright? You were having a hard time, so I decided to help. Don't think too hard on it."

"...You're lying." He shook her hand off, "No one ever helps without expecting anything in return. Just please tell me what you want."

"I really don't want anything! Not everyone does things expecting a reward. Sometimes helping others is good enough."

"..." Kazuma just stared at her as if she had grown an extra head. Help without expecting anything in return? Maybe he was already dead and started his dying dream. The only other explanation would be the time machine theory, and the idea of that bunny eared mad scientist actually doing something beneficial for someone other than herself, even by complete accident, was even more alien to him.

"Th-Then...thanks..." He mumbled the last part to himself more than to her but she seemed to get the message well enough, if the bright smile on her face was any indication.

"I'm going to go to mom's room now. You should go with dad soon or they're going to get suspicious. I can't help you every time you act too suspicious." She patted him on the shoulder lightly and made her way to the doorway. Soon he was the only remaining person in the room.

Kazuma realized it'd been the first time he'd been alone in this place without any others. Shouta was always with him while he was here and the only other time where he was functionally alone was when he was being chased.

"...Ichika..."

He searched his pants pockets for a few seconds before extracting a small, white metal gauntlet. Numerous cracks and chips marred the smooth surface, and a thin layer of dust and grime covered most of the outer layer, but the traces of attempts to maintain it showed through. The gauntlet was too big for him, so it must've belong to someone else.

"...I don't know what's happening anymore," He gripped the gauntlet tighter and closed his eyes, "Should I be happy this is happening? Is this another dream that I'll wake up from soon? Why is this so hard? You told me to try and live my life, but I don't know how. I need help..." He could feel the beginning of tears making their way through his eyes, but he forced them down. Now wasn't the time to be crying or whining. Dream or not, it was real enough that he couldn't afford to lose too much or do anything that made him suspicious.

He liked it here and didn't want it to end too soon. He'd made a friend, could rest without being paranoid, and he could see Ichika again. That alone made this dream worth sticking around for.

Unfortunately, he was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't notice the figure leaning on the doorway.

Usagi looked at him, eyes a mixture of curiosity and mischief. Unlike her mother, who focused more on the technological and physics based concepts on science, she found herself intrigued more on biology and the natural sciences. She could immediately tell something was off about him. Well, it wasn't just him. That machine probably had adverse effects on all of them, herself included. Still, she had a theory and she wanted to test it out.

"That gauntlet looks familiar!" She saw him hastily pocket the accessory and wipe his eyes, _'Hm, didn't even jump or yell out in surprise. Odd...'_

Kazuma turned to her and glared, "It's mine. That's all you need to know." He didn't bother hiding the distaste in his voice. He recognized her almost immediately; the spawn of the mad scientist. No matter how young she looked, he shouldn't let it fool him.

"Where'd you get it?" He stiffened slightly and clenched his arms, but he gave no other outward reaction, "It looks lot like dad-"

"I'm leaving..."

He stood up from the seat and tried to make his way past her, but she grabbed his arm and stopped him. Despite her thin physique, he found breaking her grip extremely hard.

"What do want?" He struggled against her hold with no success. He was severely tempted to kick her, but he managed to barely restrain himself. She didn't seem to have the same restraint, seeing she leaned in close to him and placed her lips right next to his ear.

"I know what you are."

What, not who. The way she emphasized that caused his blood to boil. Still, he couldn't stop himself from shivering at her close proximity. He felt unsafe, just like back then. He needed to get away from her.

"...Let go of my arm," His voice was devoid of emotion, like a robot. It actually surprised her slightly how much it unnerved her.

"Why? Does it make you feel uncomfortable that-"

"I said LET GO!"

She removed her hand on instinct, a choice that might have been for the better. The arm she had been holding onto just a second ago smashed into the wall, eliciting a loud thunking sound in response. It was a small relief for him that she was holding onto his uninjured arm, or else he might have started bleeding all over again.

"Woah!" She stepped back from him, both out of surprise and fear. It wasn't the fact that her hand nearly got smashed in that scared her, though that contributed a bit to the fact. It was something else.

His eyes.

The eyes that were normally brown turned into a disturbing shade of crimson. Blood red irises stared back at her, as if daring her to make a move on him. She seemed to realize the pointlessness of aggravating him as she allowed him to go past her.

She took a few seconds to watch him off before going back to search for her mother. As she made her way back, there was only one thing on her mind.

"Heh, I guess I was right."

* * *

><p>"Do you guys have a change of clothes?" Ichika hesitated slightly on pulling off his uniform before deciding it wouldn't be odd to change in the same room, "If none of you have any, I can probably lend you some of my clothes. Though it might be a bit loose on you guys." He suggested awkwardly. The revelation that these were his kids obviously made talking with them kind of odd, especially with the knowledge that they may or may not have on his future self.<p>

Was he a good dad? An awful one? He seriously hoped that it wasn't the latter. Growing up with no parent's was hard, and growing up with an abusive one would be akin to constant slap in the face, maybe even literally. Up until recently he had no plans on getting a girlfriend, but the choice had been taken out of his hands tonight. Well, he could do his best for them for now.

"Uh-uh!" Charles shook his head rapidly as he threw his shirt over himself, "Mommy told me that she had an extra pair of pajama's that she bought for Auntie Laura and that they should fit me," The bare traces of a frown enveloped his face for a couple of seconds, " I hope it's not another one of those cat pajama's. I really want something cool like a bat or a wolf."

"Okay...what about you? Um... Shouta...kun?" He turned to the wide eyed greenette.

"U-Umm...sure!" Shouta nodded his head rapidly, "I'll give it back to you tomorrow morning so it won't get dirty..." He looked like he wanted to say something else, but all that came out of his mouth were inaudible squeaks.

"What's wrong?"

"U-Uh, well..." Shouta fidgeted with his hands slightly, looking away from Ichika's questioning gaze, "W-W-Well, you usually call me without an honorific, that's all. D-Don't let it bother you or anything Dad-" He suddenly blushed crimson, " I-I-I mean Ichika-san! S-Sorry! It's just that I'm used to calling you dad or daddy or-"

"H-Hey, calm down!" Ichika patted the blushing boy in the head lightly, "It's alright if you call me that, okay? I'm still your dad, even if I'm just a teenager. You don't have to feel weird about calling me that." He chose not to divulge the fact that while it shouldn't have made Shouta feel weird, it sure as heck made HIM feel weird. He could barely handle being called Sir, and now he was asking these kids- HIS kid's that they should just call him dad? Awkward...

Shouta seemed relieved at the suggestion, "Y-Yeah, thanks...Dad! I-I'll just go change now..." With his answer finished, he grabbed the loose shirt and tore it over his head.

_'Okay, awkwardness finished for now,' _Ichika sighed in relief, _'Now I just have to make sure we can get through this bath without any more weird name calling or-'_

""Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiii""

_'Okay, maybe not,'_ Ichika felt a chill go down his spine at the familiar sound. Gulping slightly, he turned around and found Charles and Saito staring at him with accusatory glares. Kazuma, much to his relief, was neither staring or paying much attention to him and focused more on his bandaged forearm, "Um...of course that applies to all of you here, and not just Shouta-k...Shouta," He corrected himself. He needed to get used to the first name basis.

"That's right, Dad! You can't play favorites now!" Charles puffed up his cheeks and clenched his small fists. It reminded him eerily of Charlotte, and it wasn't just due to his appearance, "You heard what the rabbit lady said; if you spend too much time with one of us or play favorites, we might disappear!"

"...So that's what mom meant when she said that dad was too nice when he was younger..." Saito sighed as he wiped his glasses, "...I just hope we can go home soon...this is really weird."

"H-Hey now...don't make jokes like that. Hahahahahaha," Ichika tried to laugh, but it came out more like he was gasping for air, "I'm not going to let any of you disappear. And when Tabane-san fixes the time machine, we can all look back on this and laugh about it. Until then let's do our best and have as much fun as we can while we're here."

The two of them looked uneasy, but they chose not to voice out their complaints at the obviously forced enthusiasm.

"...She can't fix anything." This time it was Kazuma who spoke, "She obviously didn't think this through. You heard what she said: She doesn't care if the rest of us disappear or go back as long as you pick her sister. She'll probably spend all her time here trying to pair you up with her sister rather than fix the machine. She never tries to fix her mistakes..." His voice was full of loathing, as if he had firsthand experience on the subject.

"Tabane-san may be slightly...really immature, but I think she'll fix it in no time!" Ichika forced a smile, "Besides, she has her own daughter here with her. She won't do anything that might cause her to disappear."

"She didn't seem to care that much about her daughter disappearing when she suggested her first idea. I don't really blame her there, though. She's not exactly the-"

"Anyway!" Ichika cut him off before he could finish his sentence, "What about you, Saito? Kazuma? Do you need to borrow any of my clothes for tonight?"

"...No need..." Saito shook his head left and right in refusal, "...Aria made me change into this cosplay costume before I started cooking...so it's still really new. ...I should be able to use it for tonight after I take a bath." He stripped down to his underwear before pulling out his book and reading it. Ichika found the title (Metro 2033) and the picture up front (A bloody red Gas mask) to be slightly odd for a 9 year old to be reading. Again he chose not to comment on it.

_'That's a cosplay costume?'_ Ichika gave the bespectacled boy a once over, _'The shirt, pants, and shoes look normal. What's he talking about?'_ He didn't voice his concerns out loud, however. Maybe cosplay changed in the future or something. It wasn't like he was an expert on the subject.

"Same." Kazuma nodded in agreement. Ichika looked at him for a few more seconds to see if he would change, but he didn't remove clothes, "I'll change inside and put my clothes at the edge. I...don't feel comfortable changing in another room?"

"Why?"

"I just don't!" He closed his eyes in frustration and sighed, "Sorry, it's just that I don't feel comfortable changing in the same room as other people. I'll make sure that the clothes don't get wet or anything."

"It's alright..." Ichika evidently had a lot to learn on asking kid's questions, "Alright then, you guys go on ahead while I grab the towels. Make sure to keep any bandages out of the water and remove any glasses you guys have," He grabbed the book Saito was holding, "No reading books in the bath either, so I'll put this in the bench here for now. You can get it later when we finish."

"...Mmmmh..." Saito pouted momentarily before nodding at the request.

"Hey, where's Yuu?" He looked around and searched for the brown haired kendo fanatic.

"D-Do you mean the brown haired guy? H-He said that he already took a bath, so he would just go to the room directly," Shouta informed him.

"Alright then."

He waved off the kids and opened the locker, pulling out the basic necessities of soap, shampoo, and towels from the containment unit. With that done, he opened the door to the steamy bathhouse.

The feeling of warm air and moist steam greeted him as he opened the door. He still couldn't believe how big this place was. To think, they made this place for him and Charles (Well, it was just him now...) simply because his classmates felt odd about sharing a bath. What was the big deal? Him and Chifuyu-nee shared a bathroom till he was about 11, and he didn't see her complaining about it.

He was getting off topic again.

"Hey guys, I brought you the..." He paused. Shouta and Charles were happily swimming at the middle of the pool and splashing water playfully at each other. Nothing odd there. Saito was leaning on the edge of the tub, looking like he was going to fall sleep. Again, nothing odd. Kazuma standing with his on the water with his back being covered with a large variety of scars? Extremely odd.

He couldn't see much through the fog, but the shape and appearance of the scars were distinct enough for him to see. The first thing he could see was the rather large amount. if he could hazard a guess, he could say there were at least five of them, concentrated mostly on his lower backside. Rather than being clean cut or straight, most of them were jagged edged and some even had traces of dried blood around. They weren't very big, but they were certainly noticeable.

"Okay," Kazuma folded his shirt carefully and laid it on the edge, "Ichika, what are you waiting-"

*Sploosh*

Kazuma seemed to realize his gaze and quickly dropped down into the warm water, sending water droplets to spill over the edge of the basin. Ichika briefly wondered how good warm water would be against injured skin.

"Hey Kazuma, what was-"

"...Just your imagination!" The smile he was giving the older boy looked completely and utterly forced, "Hurry up and get into the bath thing before you get cold."

"But you-"

"Imagination."

"..." Ichika facepalmed internally at the blatant subject changing. How was he supposed to be these kids father's if they refused to talk to him? Sure he had no way to make sure if a time machine was involved at all, especially now that his younger sister (That's what he called her) dropped that bomb about her and (possibly) Laura being infertile, but still! Until otherwise, he would at least try his best to help them along.

"Fine, if you say so," Ichika discarded his towel and made his way to the large tub. Kazuma not so subtly scooted away from him and made sure to keep his back facing away from him. He was definitely hiding something there, _'I need to test something...'_

Ichika scooted closer to the black haired child. This was completely pointless, however, as Kazuma immediately scooted away from him the second he heard the sound of moving water coming from him his general direction.

"Why are you moving away?"

"...I'm not?" A statement, not a question. He followed said question with another two steps in the opposite direction, further invalidating the already shaky answer.

"..." Every time Ichika so much as moved in his general direction, Kazuma would take two steps back without even looking up. He gave up after a few attempts and contented himself with leaning back on the tub.

"Why is this so hard?" He gathered some of the water in his fingers and splashed onto his face, sighing in relief at the feeling of the warm water on his skin and hair, "I wonder if this is a sign that I won't be a good dad in the future?"

"...I don't think so..."

"Bwah!" Ichika nearly jumped out of the tub at the sudden voice. Saito didn't take not of his father's odd reaction and simply looked at him with his usual blank face, "Don't surprise me like that! I swear my heart's going to stop at this rate!"

"?" He titled his head to the side slightly and gave a confused look, "...I thought you were asking a question...?"

"Well, I was...but not to anyone in particular- No wait, that makes me sound like a weirdo, doesn't it?"

"...So, it's like talking to yourself?" Ichika hesitated before nodding at the comparison. That sounded like the one that made him look the most sane, "...Haha...Dad's weird..." The bare traces of a smile played on Saito's lips before disappearing again.

"H-Hey, don't say that!" He bonked him on the head lightly as a sign of 'discipline', "Anyway, why are you here? Shouldn't you be playing with Shouta and Charles?" He still found it odd to call the French boy by his first name, especially since he took a bath with 'Charles' earlier in the year. That was a test on both his willpower and morality.

"...No..." He shook his head softly, "...I'm...thinking about some things,' He admitted hesitantly.

"Hm? What about?" Okay, maybe he had a chance to finally get a talk out of one of these kid's without getting an obvious lie or subject change.

"...Mostly on that time machine..." Saito bit his lower lip nervously, "...I'm not sure I believe it. ...I mean...I've heard some stories about how Shinonono Tabane could make some amazing things...but this seems impossible. ...I never really believed she could do something this illogical." He sighed, "Then again...she already changed the world me and Aria live in."

"...Why? Is the future that much different from ours?" He couldn't imagine anything more than a few flying cars or self fitting pants like he saw in that one movie. Or maybe one of those teleporter things he sees in a lot of anime and manga. It would be so useful if he had one in his room and could get to class in less than a couple of minutes. No more attendance books to the head for him!

"...I don't really know enough about the past to get a good comparison, Dad..." Ichika could pick up the slight sarcasm in his voice, "Hmm...I sometimes see other boys being ordered around by girls they don't know. ...Is it any different here...?" His tone sounded slightly hopeful.

"...Not really..." Ichika couldn't lie to him, "It's not very common for it to happen here, but I do see it happen sometimes when I go outside with the others. The best solution is usually to stand up to them and they'll back off."

"...It didn't work so well for me..." Saito slunk deeper into the water till he was submerged up to the tip of his chin, "...Ever since the IS got more mass produced, my girl classmates have been really bad... I wish things went back to normal."

"H-Hey, what do you mean the IS got more mass produced? The Alaska treaty only allows 467 cores and even then only rep candidates/cadets are allowed to use them, and only with the permission from their government."

"...Don't worry about it...this isn't that kind of fanfic..." Both of them looked surprised at his last words, but chose to shake it off, "...I'm more worried about that time machine...I think it did something to me...all of us."

"What do you mean?" Ichika looked at Saito and Charles, both of who were still swimming around happily and ignoring their discussion, "Are you hurt? I don't see any injuries anywhere except your hand and-"

"...That's not it..." He smiled at Ichika's concern, "...I can...remember things, but I don't know how I know them...and it's impossible for me to have experienced them yet...if at all. I can only remember it when I focus really hard...but it's there, I know it..." He managed to explain with some difficulty

"Wow, you're really mature for a 9 year old," Saito declined to comment on that, "Anyway, I'm sure it's not a big deal or anything. You're probably just having...time travel-lag or something..." Okay, that was lame, "Don't worry about it too much and let us grown-ups take care of the time machine."

"...I can see a high school class, and my name being called as if I'm one of the students. I can see myself talking with friends and laughing, talking about stupid things like video games or the next school break. I can remember singing Karaoke with groups of people and even swimming around on a beach. Things that I shouldn't know yet..."

"..."

"...I can also recall the scent of...blood, and people screaming. I can't see any pictures. All I get when I try is a blurry red image and some vague drawings of people. Voices come from all directions, but they're saying things I don't understand. Whenever I try I just get a headache and then it all stops."

"...Since when has this been happening?" Ichika asked hesitantly.

"...Just a couple of hours ago, on the hangar bay while Aunt Tatenashi, Mom, and Aria were talking. ...I don't think...I'm the only one. Everybody else can probably do it...if they try..." He gave Ichika a small smile, "...It's alright...don't worry about it. ...it doesn't come up if I don't try to look for it...so I should be fine while as long as I don't keep trying to look for it."

"Aren't you scared?"

"...Somewhat..." His voice was barely above a whisper, "...But I'm not sure if it's going to happen or not...so I'm not worried about it. ...I'm still not even sure if we're back in the past...or this is just a joke. ...I'm just happy I can see you and Mom again."

"What do you mean see us again?" Ichika asked.

"...It's nothing..."

"...If you say so," Ichika wasn't convinced, but what could he do? He could barely read a text book, let alone see the effects of a time machine on a child.

"...Hey Dad...come closer. I need to tell you something..."

Curious, Ichika leaned in closer to the bluenette, "What is it?"

He didn't answer. He simply placed his hands on Ichika's chest and pushed him forward, sending the sprawling teen backwards onto, though he didn't know it, the middle of Charles and Shouta's game.

"Uwah, Daddy!" Charles pushed him back forcefully, "No surprise attacks! Me and Shouta-kun are playing a game right now!" Ichika would've apologized if not for the fact that he got splashed by extremely warm water by the irate blond.

"Hey, that's no fair!" Ichika retaliated childishly by scooping some of the warm water and dunking it atop the French boy's head. Sometimes size had its advantages.

"Waaah, cheater!" Charles tried to tackle him, but only succeeded in moving him a couple of inches back, "No fair! No fair! Daddy's too tall to fight! I'm telling Mommy that you were cheating!" He puffed up his cheeks again to show he was 'serious'.

"Hey, it's not my fault you can't beat me!" He placed his hand atop his head and held him in place. Ichika found the way he was flailing his fists angrily, not to mention futilely, rather hilarious, "Wahahahaha! You're 10 years too early to try and take me on!" He always wanted to say that, "Without help, you'll never be able to defeat- Guwagh!"

Ichika found himself being pulled back by a pair of arms encircling his neck. If he hadn't been forced to kendo training for the past few months, he might have fallen onto his back,

"S-Sorry dad!" Shouta held tightly onto his neck, "I-It's unfair when dad's the one playing, so now it's two against one!"

"Hah, don't think you can beat me so easily!"

After taking a bath, all they had to do was sleep...Good luck with that.

* * *

><p><strong>Extra<strong>

**Houki Shinonono's situation.**

"Aren't you going to take that off?" Houki unbuttoned her own shirt and quickly replaced it with her sleeping Yukata...behind the wooden changing barrier, of course. Son or not, changing with another guy felt extremely awkward.

"N-No, it's alright..." Yuu shook his head quickly and jumped into the bed, covering himself to the brim with the white blanket. He and Houki were sharing the same bed, something neither of them were making too much of a fuss about. Yuu had shared his bed with his mother at times back at home, and Houki found little to complain about with sharing a bed with someone who was younger than her.

"If you say so." Her roommate was already asleep, so she and Yuu were the only ones awake. This made talking easier for the both of them.

She finished tying the cloth belt around her waist and laid down on the bed, making sure that Yuu had ample space to move around in case he was a rough sleeper. It was something her mother did to her whenever she came to her bed after a bad dream.

"...Good night Mom."

"...Night."

**Cecilia Alcott's situation.**

"Hm, as expected of Mother," Claire nodded approvingly at the room's various furnishings and decorations, "I trust these are here simply for aesthetic and comfort purposes then? You never could settle for anything but the best."

"But of course!" Cecilia looked absolutely proud of herself, "I chose these designs not only because they're comfortable, but also because they're convenient and movable. I hope these are enough for you to rest comfortably."

"Yes, but I'm not really very tired at the moment. Perhaps we could stay up and discuss any questions you have about Father? I assume you're very curious about what the future holds."

"Yes!" Cecilia coughed at her strange outburst, "I-I mean of course I do. Well them shall we turn on the television to add some background noise?"

As the two of them started discussing this and that, a disgruntled figure tried in vain to block out the noise. Jess groaned into her pillow as she plugged her ears. She could understand the concept of being a good person to kids, but couldn't she take pity on her own roommate? She hadn't had a good sleep in a few days already.

Well, here comes another night of bad sleep.

**Huang Lingyin's situation**

"I'm done with the bath!"

Rin breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the cool air from the air-condition unit hit her skin. Taking a warm bath to unwind after everything that happened was immensely relaxing.

"Sure!" Fuka grabbed another one of Tina's fries as the two of them played on her Nintendo Wii. She was currently beating the American girl for the 5th time in a row in Wii boxing, something Tina was getting extremely peeved at.

"Alright, that's enough," Rin grabbed Fuka by the collar and dragged her to the bathroom door, "Take a bath before you play too much. You're still a kid, so you can't afford to stay up too late or ruin your eyes at such a young age."

"Geez Mom! You haven't changed at all!" Fuka gave her Future Mother a once over before stopping at her upper body: Specifically, at her breasts, "Hey Mom, you're about 15 years old right now, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"...I guess some things really don't change," She tried in vain to stop herself from giggling, "Your chest is just as small as it was back home!"

"..."

The sounds of screaming echoed loudly from the room the entire night.

**Charlotte Dunoa and Laura Bodewig's situation**

"Mooooom! I don't want to wear the cat pajama's again!" Charles flopped the loose white sleeves of the cat ear pajama's to emphasize his point, but it only encouraged Charlotte on the cuteness of it all, "Can I please wear something that's more cool?"

"Charles, be reasonable. There's nothing else to wear," Her word's were very nonsensical, but the fact that she was snapping pictures rapidly on her camera heavily diminished the overall effect, "Oh, can you make that pose where you stick your hands out and 'Nya~'? I don't have one of those yet."

"Moooom!" Charles whined again.

"Please~!" Charlotte gave him the signature pout. It worked on anyone, future offspring included. The only person who was immune to it was her father, and she was pretty sure it had mostly to with having a black hole where a heart was supposed to be.

"...N-N-Nyaaaaa~!" He held up his palms opened his mouth wide, like a cat looking for food.

"So adorable~!" Charlotte rapidly snatched multiple pictures on her camera, ignoring the slight teary eyed look that Charles was exhibiting. It just made him look cuter all things considered, "Now just do a few more poses for Mom and then we'll be finished!"

At the other side of the room, Laura and Celeste held onto one another tightly, true fear etched into their faces.

"By the way, you two will do some after Charles, so don't fall asleep yet!"

...

They resolved to knock themselves out with tranquilizers shortly afterwards.

**Kanzashi Sarashiki's situation**

"Wow, this is the first issue of Index!" Aria looked like she was practically drooling as she held the worn manga in her hands, "This is so rare back home! I went looking all around the shops and even went to Akihabara to find this!"

"...You mean made me go around all the shops and Akihabara..." Saito interjected, "...You stopped after the 1st shop...since you found an early copy of Negima and started reading it. ...It was a good thing I had a map of the area...or I might have gotten lost."

"...You two...went by yourself?" Kanzashi looked absolutely aghast, "...Didn't...anyone go with you? ...I'm surprised you two...managed to get back by yourself..."

Though she didn't say it, she was extremely worried with the things they were talking about. Aria kept talking about manga and often sneaking out of the house to go and grab the latest issue that stroke her fancy while Saito...didn't say much of anything. He eerily reminded her of herself at that age.

"It's fine, Mom!" Aria waved it off nonchalantly, "You and Dad are usually busy doing work and the maids are too busy cleaning the house, so it's usually just Me, Satio and Yukari-chan around the house."

"...Speaking of which..." Saito stood up from the bed and opened the miniature fridge. Inside were various high grade ingredients, perfect for a feast "...I still haven't cooked anything for dinner. I should be able to make Paella and some omelet's with the ingredients here. ...Are you two alright with that?"

"Yup!" Aria answered without looking up from the book.

Kanzashi raised an eyebrow slightly at Aria's response, "...Shouldn't I help-"

"No...it's alright..." Saito gathered the ingredients and placed them on the miniature kitchen with some difficulty, "...I just need some time...and a stool so I can cook it by myself. It's easier when I don't bump into anyone..."

Kanzashi simply nodded and gave him a small stool. She wasn't very good in cooking or housework; something her sister was, of course, extremely good at. While she could bake something easy, something like Paella and Omelet was beyond her.

**Nohotoke Honne's situation**

"Zzzzzzzzz"

"Zzzzzzzzzzzz"

...Let's leave these two alone.

**Tatenashi Sarashiki's situation**

"So Mom, how are you and dad doing?" Sara jumped into the bed and gave her mother a lopsided grin, "You and dad are so secretive back home that I can never figure out what's going on. Come on, tell me everything~!"

"Ah ah, not so fast~" Tatenashi smiled back in return, "First you have to tell me what the future's like and how me and Ichika-kun got together. Since you're an only child, I'm going to assume that you're already being trained as the next Tatenashi, so being secretive shouldn't be too much of a problem for you."

"Hold on, we should make a deal," Sara gave an enigmatic smile, "I don't see why we both can't benefit from this. You give me information on anything I ask, and I'll tell you anything I know about dad. Sounds like a fair deal, doesn't it? I'm sure it'll be useful for you to know things about Dad that you probably don't know yet."

"Making deals already?" Tatenashi giggled and pulled out a fan. At the front, the word 'worthy' was written, "Well well, I can already see who you're taking after," She stuck her free hand out and shook the smaller girl's hand, "Well then, you have yourself a deal~"

Elsewhere, Ichika suddenly felt a chill go down his spine.

**Maya Yamada's situation**

Shouta blushed as he heard his stomach growl. With all the excitement from earlier, he had forgotten about his current hunger. Now that everything was calm, however, the feeling came back with full force.

**"**A-Are you hungry?" Maya asked him timidly. Whether she was his mother or not, it shouldn't stop her from trying to be polite and doing her best to help him. He must've been scared and confused being stuck somewhere he knew nothing about.

"U-U-Umm, yes, but dad's probably too busy to cook anything for now. I-I'll just hold it till tomorrow morning- " Another rumble from his stomach interrupted him, "A-Ah, don't worry about th-that! I'm sure it's no big deal!" He denied hastily.

"D-Don't worry! I'll cook something for you!" Maya clenched her fists in determination as she made her way to the mini-kitchen. Granted, she'd never cooked a day in her life, but how hard could it be? All she had to do was follow the basic recipe's.

The ensuing smoke and fire was completely unrelated to her cooking.

**Chifuyu Orimura's situation**

"...Well, this is awkward..." Asuka and Chifuyu sat across each other, neither willing to loom straight at one another. Asuka had to admit that seeing her mother looking so out of place was worth going through another one of Auntie Tabane's crazy schemes. At least she could skip training for today.

"...Yeah." Chifuyu nodded slightly, but showed no other sign she'd heard the small girl at all.

_'Wow, that was a really awesome conversation,' _Okay, this obviously wasn't working out, "All in favor of not talking about this now and just going to sleep?"

Both of them nodded and made their way to the bed. They were too tired to care about sharing a bed.

**Madoka Orimura's situation**

Madoka grunted as she struggled to break the handcuffs holding Kotanoha's wrists together, "You must've pissed off Chifuyu a lot if she got mad enough to gag you and handcuff you," She grabbed the gag and pulled it not so gently off her struggling mouth, "Whether you're my kid or not, that makes you all right in my book." Anybody who caused trouble for Chifuyu was a-okay to her.

"...I failed!" Kotanoha crashed into the next bed and stuffed her face into the pillow, "She dodged my every attempt! I was so sure the 87th try would be my best one!"

"87? You've been doing this for a while now," She sounded more surprised than impressed, "Well, I don't know why you don't like her, and to be honest I don't really care. But..." She sat beside the girl, "If you need any help, just say so. I won't pass up the chance to screw with her. "

"R-Really!?" Kotanoha grabbed her by the shoulders tightly, "No take backs! Whenever I ask you for help back home, you always tell me not to bother and just leave her alone. You'll really help me, Mom!?"

Her? Opting NOT to try and kill Chifuyu? Well, that right there was irrefutable proof that this time machine nonsense was all garbage.

"Of course. Just one condition," She grabbed the girl's head and pushed her forcefully to the bed and away from her, "DON'T call me Mom. I can't make kids."

"Yes Mother!"

...It was the start of a beautiful relationship.

**Ran Gotanda's situation**

"Man, this monorail is long!" Ran shifted uncomfortably as she held the sleeping toddler in her hands, "None of this makes any sense at all. I mean, time machine's? Really? This sounds like something off a sci-fi story."

"Beats me," Dan shrugged, "I'm just glad Ichika didn't screw you or anything." Dear God was he relieved when he heard his sister's explanation. Time machines were naturally wonky, so if he did indeed screw her sister, which he most probably didn't, it probably happened in some alternate bizzaro timeline where things didn't make sense. The one here was still his best friend and totally not his brother in law.

He had to apologize to Ichika later for decking him.

"H-Hey, what makes you so sure of that!?" She glared at him, "Run's here, so that probably means it had to have happened at some point!"

"Yeah, in some kind of crazy alternate timeline," He leaned back and put his hands behind his head, "Which means it's not happening here and I shouldn't be worried."

"Don't write me off so quickly! I still have a chance with him-"

She stopped. Run was moving uncomfortably in her arms, most likely being disturbed due to Ran's yelling.

"Mama...Oi-tan...don't fwight. "

"..."

They were quiet and well-behaved the entire ride home.

**Tabane Shinonono's situation**

"Tabane-sama, is something wrong?" Kuu shook the despondent scientist's shoulder softly, "Does the size of the room not please you?"

The room they were in was bigger than the usual dorm room and fitted with more tech than most of the academy combined. There were three beds scatted around the room, along with some couches, a mini-fridge, a great view, and some computers. All things considered, Tabane got a really good room out of the entire thing.

"Houki-chan's mad at me!" She grabbed Kuu and pulled her into a strong bear hug, "She says she can't forgive me for stealing Ik-kun away from her. It's not my fault this happened! Doesn't she know that time machines don't always go to the set future? Alternate futures are common and-"

"In one of those alternate futures, you gave birth to me," Usagi interrupted her without looking up. She was currently typing something on one of the computers and searching the web. Since this was a research room, she might as well have made us of it, "And did you know that Dad had to stop talking to Aunt Houki after he got married to you? She must've been devastated about that."

Tabane let out another wave of tears on Kuu's shoulder at Usasgi's reminder. Usagi gave little reaction to her mother's extreme reaction, but a small smile managed to work its way through.

**And finally, Ichika Orimura's situation.**

"...Ichika, why are we still on the bath?"

Kazuma and Ichika were the only people left in the bath, the other three having left long before. Kazuma kept insisting that Ichika go ahead of him while Ichika insisted that he keep the boy company till he chose to get out. And thus they were on a stalemate.

"Oh no, I'm here. You go on ahead if you want," Ichika made sure to keep his eyes trained on him. He needed to make sure about those scars and see if they were just a hallucination or if they were real. He also briefly wondered why Kazuma called him by first name, unlike all the others. _'Scars first, name later.'_

"Alright then..."

2 hours later, Ichika's body was found floating in the bath after fainting from extreme heat. Kazuma chose to sleep on the adjacent locker room in order to keep him company.

* * *

><p><strong>Finally finished: After this I'll probably update Reversal or Synchronicity. On the other hand, I might start writing either a Kingdom Hearts fanfic or Persona fanfic. To broaden my horizon's and all. What do you guys think?**

**Don't forget to read and review. See ya guys next time:D**


	13. Deviations from the norm

**Holy shit, I'm actually updating this:D Like before, I'm going to answer some of the questions/comments.  
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**Ziharn Krais - Warrior? Yeah, if you think his elegant fleeing and wheezing are warrior qualities then why not. Personally, I think he's a child, not a fighter. And no, they don't think its their past; they're just not going to make a stink about it because they don't know any better. Again, this is the time before Ichika made his choice on who he marries, so technically it is their past until Ichika makes his choice. Then the timeline diverges.**

**Heliosion - Note that its Tabane and Kazuma saying this; one's a child and the other is not all there(I'll let you figure out who's who). So they're not the most reliable sources. Note also that I never gave proof to their claims: Whether its true or not is not known as of now. Everybody's just rolling with it since its a better explanation than anyone else has.**

**Oh, and as for Tabane's romance and Laura's/Madoka's infertility? You might wanna hold your breath. This chapter doesn't focus on either of them yet so their reasons won't be featured.**

**Reader - The "First Shock" was mostly off-screen or dealt with already. Note that most of them are suffering from shock, but it manifests as a sort of numb feeling rather than crazy surprise. This is common reactions to seeing something your mind can't comprehend. The only other option would be rampant screaming, and Chifuyu would've duct taped their mouths shut if they tried that.  
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**On a side note, I've looked back on my previous chapters and realized my previous chapters were severely lacking in meat:/ So as of right now, most chapters will be on the longer side; most likely having 8k on average. Alright with you guys? Though this might mean a lower amount of chapters overall.  
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**Oh, and since everybody has conflicting votes, I'm making this chapter a paired chapter :D  
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**The first pair chapter is: Asuka Orimura and Celeste Bodewig with the theme of clothes shopping! Let the stupidity begin!**

* * *

><p>The first thing Chifuyu noticed when she woke up was that she wasn't alone.<p>

Normally this would be a sign of panic for the adult. Company while she was sleeping either meant that someone was spying on her or that she had let her guard down; and neither sounded particularly good for her. In particular she felt a pressure around her chest area and arms holding onto her back tightly.

The first thing that came to her mind was her little brother before she pushed it down. She and Ichika hadn't slept together since 3 years ago, and even then it was mostly because he still had nightmares. They'd eventually grown out of the habit completely by the time he was 12, which was a relief for the older woman because he tended to be clingy and made sneaking out to her extra jobs extra hard.

Looking down, Chifuyu found Asuka's figure lying on the bed next to her, the younger girls arm fastened around her back in a tight hug. It took her a second to realize what she was doing there before it all came back to her: The time machine, seeing her own child(ren) ostensibly born from the union with herself and Ichika, and agreeing to sleep in favor of actually talking about said union.

She sighed as she remembered the events of last night. Why did she offer to share a bed again? Sure she was tired, but usually she was more sensible than that. Perhaps she was also going insane because of recent events. She didn't even bother changing her clothes; just making do with removing everything but her undershirt, skirt, and undergarments. She'd gotten lazy.

A glance at the clock showed that it was already half an hour past 6 a.m., meaning that breakfast was going to start soon. Thankfully it was the weekend and classes were suspended as of yesterday, mostly on account of 'Troubling circumstances'. Meaning of course that the students not involved shouldn't ask lest they want to run laps with Uchigane's strapped to their back.

Chifuyu made to stand up before Asuka stopped her. More specifically, the sleeping girl had tightened her hold around her back and pulled her back down, stuffing her face into her chest with a muffled sigh. Essentially, the girl was snuggling against her in her sleep. Chifuyu should've been annoyed at the intimate contact with someone she barely knew, future children or not.

And yet, seeing her now, she couldn't help but smile as Asuka's scrunched her face at the slight movement she made. Evidently she inherited Ichika's tendency to be a light sleeper.

...That didn't mean she really did have intercourse with her brother, of course; that would've been crazy. It was just a coincidence that the girl knew about her...and looked exactly like her...and she-

Okay, she should stop talking now.

"Mom...the zombies are breaking through walls...get the repair tool..." Asuka mumbled to herself. Chifuyu stifled a laugh as the nonsensical words reached her ears. What exactly had this girl been through that she could remember fantasies in her sleep? "Mom...stop taking off dad's clothes...go to your room first...and make the walls sound-proof..."

Right, just fantasies...

Chifuyu rolled her eyes at the obviously false and completely untrue words and made to stand up. Again the smaller girl tightened her grip against her back, forcing her to slump back to the bed in a heap, "Hey, wake up," With a little more irritation than normal, Chifuyu started shaking her daughter's shoulder rather roughly.

Asuka's reaction wasn't what she expected, "Mom, don't go yet..." She hugged her again, burying her face onto Chifuyu's chest. Chifuyu grabbed her shoulder again before sighing; she couldn't wake up this kid even if she tried. She'd learned from experience in dealing with a bratty younger brother.

"Alright, have it your way," Burying her irritation, Chifuyu yawned and lied down on the bed again. If she wanted her to sleep, then she was going to sleep.

* * *

><p>"H-Hey, you have to wear these before leaving!"<p>

"NEVEEEEER!"

If Chifuyu's room was the picture of serenity, then the room shared by Laura and Charlotte was the opposite: Complete and utter pandemonium. The beds were messy, blankets strewn on the floor in a haphazard heap. Clothes were scattered around, some even ripped into various pieces by what looked to be a knife. And, upon closer inspection, one could also see bloody handprints on the walls and windows - how the last one related to the first two one could only guess.

The most disturbing part of the scene, however, was the currently naked Celeste bouncing around the room with Charles chasing after her with a rather cute pair of silver bunny pajamas in his arm.

"Mom said you have to wear this while your costume is being washed!" Charles insisted, nearly skidding to the wall as Celesta turned around and barreled past him. Gosh dang it, how was this girl was fast!? Playing tag with Anna and the other kids was hard, but at least they didn't bounce off the walls!

"I refuse to wear such a demeaning piece of cloth, no doubt made from dunces and those lacking in any rudimentary knowledge in good aesthetics!" Celeste grabbed a blanket and threw it at Charles, who was still trying figure out the meaning of over half of the sentence thrown at him. The large blanket covered him in its embrace and made him trip to the floor, dropping the pajamas in the process.

The room was abandoned save for the two of them; an odd sight considering their impromptu parents over-protectiveness of them last night. The truth of the matter was that their parents had left both the room temporarily. Charlotte had gone to the washers in order to was Celeste's clothes and Laura had gone to the cafeteria to fetch the four of them some food.

Before leaving, however, Charlotte made Charles promise her that she would get his new 'sister' - as she called her - to properly wear some clothing by the time they got back - The same bunny pair of bunny pajamas he now held in his arms. Not thinking this would be a problem, Charles accepted readily.

Now he was beginning to regret it.

"But mommy will get really mad!" He shouted at her, regressing back to calling Charlotte by the more childish name; as it happened whenever he started panicking. Celeste snorted and rolled her eyes, dodging another attempt of clothing from the blanket covered crybaby with a deft step to the side. She didn't know nor care much about the time travel situation; as long as her parents were here and her dad chose her mom - like she knew he would - then all was well.

However, she did take offense to the idea that even a part of her was related to this...aggressor. He whined, he begged, he frequently tried to make deals and compromises even when it was obvious he was in no position to be making demands. One did not make demands when they were on the losing side! It destroyed the entire point of winning.

Vae Victis: Woe to the conquered, for they hold no rights. While it sounded like something the stereotypical evil overlord would say, one could not deny that it held truth regardless of how one denied it. The one who lost certainly didn't go about making demands. That would be like the person who lost the election ordering around the president; it made absolutely no sense.

"Hah, I would rather go naked than run around with such a ridiculous ensemble of clothing!" Celeste mocked, grabbing a pillow from Laura's bed and tossing it towards Charles flailing form. Unaware of the danger, Charles continued to struggle with the blanket and finally managed to pull it off of him. A smile lit up his face before he realized the danger making its way towards him.

The pillow soared through the air like a majestic bird...and hit Charles square in the face with a loud thud. Immediately a silence enveloped the dorm room. Celeste raised an eyebrow expectantly, waiting for Charles to yell an obscenity at her or to take his revenge like all the other older teens in the base did. She lined that pillow with some soft concrete; nothing fatal, but enough to cause a bump. Surely he would be planning for revenge already.

What he did instead completely surprised her.

"Uuuuuuuuu..." Charles sniffed loudly, turning away from her and bringing up his knees against his face. Celeste briefly wondered what exactly he was doing before she realized it.

He was crying. He wasn't planning to take revenge on her or anything like that, he was simply letting out the frustration. Celeste arched an eyebrow; half in confusion and half in anticipation. She'd never seen anyone react that way before. Granted all of the people she interacted with were at least 5 years her senior, but age had nothing to do with things! Once you're old enough to think, you're old enough to stop crying and fight back!

"H-Hey, why are you crying?" She walked towards him and tried to turn him around, but the blond child shrugged off her hand and continued to cry, "Why aren't you taking revenge? This is how these things usually go!"

"Y-You hit me~!" Charles cried, stating the obvious. Celeste raised up her arms and prepared for the counterattack to come once again now that she was closer, but again he continued to cry and ignore her, "It-It really hurt~! Why did you hit me~?"

"Why? It was obvious why! You tried to make me wear that...that abomination!" She pointed to the discarded pajamas lying at his feet, "Not only is the fabric not versatile or combat safe in the least, it is also too large and the design shows that it has very little in the way of functional symmetry or practical applications,"

Charles continued to cry, ignoring her long and mostly pointless explanation, "I mean, really, look at this," She scoffed and picked up the offending garment, holding it apart from her with a look of disgust, "The ears are too floppy and the sleeves go over the hands too much. How are you supposed to handle a gun or a knife while wearing this thing?"

"I...I don't know..." The crying boy answered, doing his best to wipe the tears from his eyes. Anna told him guys shouldn't cry in front of girls, "All...All I know is mommy told you to wear it...and-and we'll get in trouble if you don't wear it. Please wear it." He begged again.

Celeste turned back to him and was about to voice another refusal before stopping. He had stopped crying, much to her relief, but he was doing something worse. Worse than all the landmines she'd accidentally tripped and all the times she got lost on the fields surrounding the base: He was pouting. Not only that, but he was pouting at HER.

"I...I refuse to..." She flinched; he was doing the puppy dog eyes! For Valkyrie's sake, he was so immature! "I...will not fall for such underhanded..." Tears started to spring from the sides of his blue orbs.

She felt her resolve weakening. Why did she feel so damn guilty? It wasn't her fault! It was because of this damn abominable fabric! She shook the fabric in her hands and glared at it. This piece of cloth was the reason for it all. She was expected to wear this thing while going outside? She would've preferred to be naked like she was now rather than wear this.

"Please, please wear it," Charles clapped his hands together in a begging gesture, "Mommy and Auntie Laura will get mad at us when they see you aren't wearing anything. I don't want to get in trouble." She unfortunately had her mother's habit of forgoing sleeping clothes altogether, much to Charles rising worry.

Celeste clicked her tongue before staring at the offending piece of cloth for a final time. The fabric was too thick, the measurements were all wrong, and the design seemed to try its best to make its wearer as non-threatening as possible. It might have been a good disguise for a covert ops, but her pride wouldn't allow her to wear this for more than a couple of seconds before ripping it off.

But she was willing to swallow it just this once, "Tch, if you are so desperate, the I shall indulge you just this once." She scoffed. Charles looked up at her and smiled at the answer, eliciting another annoyed scoff from the young silverette. He was such a baby.

With that dealt with, both children turned around and waited for the changing of clothes to finish. Charles breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that he could follow his mother's instructions without the situation reducing to him physically forcing her to do so. Not that he thought he had much of a chance of doing that, given his weak physical condition. He still remembered Anna dragging him around.

He hoped she was alright.

"I'm finished," Charles blinked at the announcement and turned back to her. Despite her complaints, the fabric actually fit her rather well; better than the one his mom gave him last night anyway. He was silently thankful that he didn't run around too much yesterday and that his clothes were simple enough that he could wait till buying new ones was an option. He didn't want to walk around wearing bunny pajamas.

"Hey, say something," Celeste barked, knocking Charles out of his reverie, "You think this is funny, isn't it? I can see it in your eyes!" She accused, giving him the pointer finger - or at least she tried to; she ended up flopping up a sleeve against him ineffectively. Normally it might have been threatening, but Charles honestly found it kind of funny in a way.

"Uh, nonono!" The flustered boy turned away and tried to hide his rapidly reddening cheeks. He had to stop himself from laughing, "I, um, thought it was...cute?" He blurted out, recalling how his own parent described him the night before.

"...Cute?" She replied blankly, arm flopping down at the sudden complement.

"Um, yes?" He agreed before he realized what exactly she said and nodded again, "Yes, very cute!" He agreed. It was a compliment, right? His mom kept saying it so it must've been.

"I am not cute!" She suddenly yelled, causing the younger boy to recline in surprise, "Cute things are not threatening! Cute things don't make for good soldiers!" She stamped her foot, "Do not call me cute!"

Charles remained silent, completely confused just what in the heck she was talking about. Such a wonderful thing; to be a child. He had absolutely no idea what half the words she were spouting meant. 'Acceptable losses'? 'Black ops and stealth'? 'The definition of insanity?' 'Fus Ro Dah?'. He had no idea what the heck she was talking about. She might as well have been spouting gibberish.

Celeste twitched when Charles didn't answer her and opened her mouth to scold him again before the sound of the door opening interrupted her.

"We're back~!" Charlotte announced with a smile, slipping into the room quickly and closing the door behind her, "Sorry it took so long: The line for the laundry room was long and the other girls kept stopping me to ask questions."

"Mom!" Charles ran past the venting wannabe soldier and jumped onto Charlotte, wrapping his small arms around her waist, "Are you okay? Where's Auntie Laura? Are we going to eat now?"

"Slow down, Charles. Don't talk so fast," Despite her words, the bright smile on her face and the fact that she had her arms wrapped around his back indicated she didn't exactly care about how he talked, "Lara's already at the cafeteria and she asked me to get you two so we can have breakfast."

Out of all the girls, Charlotte was one of the few who managed to adapt easily. Maybe it had something to do with her in-born maternal instinct and the face that she lost her own mother at a young age, or maybe it was because she actually spent time with her own child prior to the next day. Either way, the results spoke for themselves.

"Tch," Celeste felt sick. How could they be so...affectionate? Her mother was never like that. She was a true parent; always pushing her to do better and smart enough to realize that compliments and acts of affection would make her cocky. Clearly she was emulating how her own superiors in the army raised her when she was younger and how it allowed her to grow up to be a strong and confident woman.

Though she couldn't deny she enjoyed the times when her father spoiled her...

"Ah, Celeste-chan!" Celeste was nearly bowled over as Charlotte knelt down and hugged her as well. This girl was affectionate, "You look so cute in that! You should ask Laura to buy you an extra pair when you two go shopping later!"

"No...No thanks...!" She shook her head fiercely and bit back the retort she wanted to reply with, "I would...much prefer to wear something more formal...if possible," She answered slowly. She didn't want to say anything that could be misconstrued as being uppity with someone older than her.

"Well, lets decide that later," Charlotte conceded, "Come on, your mom's waiting for us already."

* * *

><p>"You alright, mom?"<p>

Chifuyu cringed at the casual question before re-composing herself, "Yeah, just fine," She shook her head and tried to get rid of the rising headache threatening to engulf her cranium, "I'm still having a hard time believing this. You're old enough to know that this isn't natural in any way, right?"

"No kidding," Asuka rolled her eyes and placed both hands at the back of her head, "I've seen some weird things: Zombies rise up from the ground, little balls people call "Pieces of Eden", an insane computer called GLaDOS that kept promising cake, and even a "neighbors club" made for people trying to find friends. And among all those, only one wasn't made by Aunt Tabane," She shrugged, "To be honest, this is pretty mild all things considered."

That wasn't even mentioning the TV's that sucked people in and made them fight with something called a 'Persona' or the time she got sucked into a green portal to become the Familiar of some irritating pink haired girl. She was pretty sure Aunt Tabane was responsible for those too.

"...What kind of childhood did you have?" Chifuyu asked blankly.

"One that's still going on," Asuka deadpanned, "Though I have to admit that this isn't exactly what I expected when I traveled back in time. I was expecting the whole universe to blow up or something when I met you."

The two of them were currently making their way to the cafeteria for some much needed breakfast. The plan for the day was that they eat and then go to the Odaiba market to get her some new clothes. Technically they all needed that, but some of her students had a hard time adapting and still needed more time before they were ready to move around without losing control of their new "children".

"I'm glad that isn't the case then," Chifuyu replied, "Anyway, is there anything you know that could help get you and the others back? Knowing Tabane she'll probably spend more time on doing stupid things rather than fixing the thing that brought you here."

"Well, me and my brother," Asuka reminded casually, keeping up the charade she started yesterday, "And the answer to that is no. I usually spend my time trying to fix the problems Aunt Tabane causes, nothing else. Usually its just flipping the off switch."

Right, how could she forget? Not only was she depraved enough to have a child with her younger brother, she was also depraved enough to do it twice without any guilt on her part. Chifuyu placed both palms against her face and suppressed a groan. She was going to have a hard time looking her brother in the face one all this was over and dealt with.

Chifuyu opened the door to the cafeteria and was immediately met by the sight of scattering students. She could see them run back into their tables by the dozens, most likely in a transparent attempt to make it look like they were minding their own business and weren't interested in what kids were doing in the prestigious IS academy.

"Damn, forgot there aren't any classes," Chifuyu muttered to herself. After the school principal was given the notification, he declared all classes suspended - at least for the next few days. This might have been an effort to help, but in the end it made things worse since they were left with curious students who had nothing to distract them.

She could already see the other "parents" split into groups.

The Sarashiki sisters occupied a table by themselves, the three children accompanying them. Sara and Aria were chatting energetically, both using their hands to make wild gestures she didn't understand. Saito was quiet, both hands covering his face and taking shallow breaths like he had a headache (she knew the feeling). The sisters themselves were quiet for the most part. Tatenashi was trying to chat up her sister, but the younger bluenette kept giving one word answers and refused to look her in the eye. Probably still felt awkward given their shared relation.

"Hey Saito, are you alright?" Aria turned back to her twin and poked him on the cheek, eliciting an annoyed grunt, "You've been talking like a zombie all morning."

"Maybe he's turning into one," Sara suggested jokingly(?), "Quick, check if he's groaning about brains and eating skin!"

"Touch me...and I really will bite you..." Saito snarled. He had a bad dream and he really wasn't in the mood to deal with his sister and his new "cousin's" antics; especially since they had so much in common, "I'm fine...just not hungry." He couldn't stare at the food on his plate without feeling queasy.

"Hey, hey, no fighting you three," Tatenashi admonished lightly, "Kanzashi-chan, Saito-chan seems to be having some problems. Is there something you can do?"

"I...I don't...know..." Kanzashi admitted hesitantly, trying and failing to suppress the blush on her cheeks. She still wasn't used to the idea that her children, two of them, were sitting next to her. She couldn't even read 18+ doujins without stopping out of embarrassment, and now she was given absolute proof that she and Ichika had...

Rin, Houki, and Cecilia, along with their respective kids, were eating silently, not a sound between them. Out of the entire ordeal, they were probably the most shell-shocked. Sure they were confident when talking to their kids one-on-one, but when they were in a group they had nothing to talk about.

"Can somebody say awkward?" Fuka blurted out suddenly.

"Indeed, the atmosphere does appear to be tense," Claire noted.

"Hmm," Yuu nodded, continuing to consume his noodles quietly.

Charlotte and Laura were in another table, their little mini-me's sitting next to them. Given how easy it was for them to adapt, their chatter was the most lighthearted among all of them.

"Charles, mind your manners," Charlotte picked up a napkin and wiped his mouth, "Don't talk with your mouth open and eat the food slowly, okay? We don't need anyone choking."

"Celeste, you must ensure you have a proper diet available," Laura picked up a few vegetables from her own plate and deposited them in the smaller silverette's, "Meat is important, but the nutrients and vitamins you get from vegetables are also key to achieving a perfect balance of strength and speed." Despite the strictness, Chifuyu didn't miss the smile on Laura's face. Maybe there was a grain of truth in what Madoka had said.

Maya, Honne, Tabane and her not-sister Madoka were gone. Madoka was once again confined to her room, so it was no surprise her little spawn wasn't anywhere in sight. Maya had gone ahead of everyone else and already started shopping, so she was gone as well. Honne was most likely sleeping in her room (no surprise there). And that left only Tabane, who refused to leave her room for fear of running into Houki again.

Which meant her brother was-

"Hey, they're over there," Asuka tapped her on the arm and pointed at a table on the corner of the cafeteria. Kazuma and Ichika sat across one another, not a single plate of food between them, "Looks like they're not hungry. Come on, we should join them."

"I don't think that's such a good-"

Asuka bolted from her side and slammed her hands on the table, eliciting a surprised scream from Ichika and a raised eyebrow from Kazuma, "Hey Dad, hey little brother!" She smiled, ruffling Kazuma's hair cheekily in a show of affection, "Why aren't you two eating? You two don't look so good. Stay up too late?"

"-...idea."

Chifuyu sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was not how she wanted to start her morning. She wanted to avoid her brother at first, at least till both of them managed to adapt to the ridiculous events happening around them. Now she didn't have much of a choice.

"Morning Orimura," She greeted, reverting back to last name basis, "What's wrong, didn't get enough sleep last night?" She asked, repeating her daughter's inquiries.

"Huh? Chifuyu-nee? Oh, I guess," Ichika yawned and placed his head on the table, "We stayed up on the bath till midnight or so and I fainted. Kazuma dragged me out to the locker room later and that's where we slept...in a sense."

Chifuyu palmed her face in her hands and sighed, "And why exactly did you think it would be a good idea to take a bath for 4 hours straight? I told you to clean yourselves, not drown in bath water."

"That's because-" Ichika started before stopping. Kazuma had gripped his wrist and gave him a silent look. He hesitated slightly before continuing, "It's because...it was Kazuma's first time at an open-air bath and he wanted to stay a while." He finished slowly.

Asuka and Chifuyu exchanged their own silent glance. Ichika was lying; he was so obvious about it that it was actually kind of sad. He hesitated, his right hand twitched, and he looked away after past or future he was a terrible liar. Some things never changed, they guessed.

"Well, whatever," Asuka gave a nonchalant shrug, "Still doesn't explain why you two aren't eating anything. Did you and Otouto-kun decide to go on a diet together?"

"No, nothing like that," He smiled at her, "Tabane-san messaged me earlier that she needs my help working on the time machine and that extra mass might interfere with the experiments."

"Why's that?"

"Something about a common factor," He shrugged, "She mentioned that a common thing the kids all had was that they hadn't eaten yet or were about to eat before they were transported. She thinks that it could be related and she instructed me not to eat till we finish the experiments. She, Kuu-san, and Usagi-chan are still preparing what to do so I'm not eating."

"Then why isn't he eating?" Chifuyu nudged her head in Kazuma's direction, "Is he part of the experiment too?"

"I'm not hungry," Kazuma interjected, "And if Ichika doesn't eat, then neither will I." He closed his eyes and yawned. He was feeling tired. Truly, all he wanted was to go back to sleep. He knew he needed it more than food consumption, given his biology.

Asuka gave him a worried look before asking, "Uh, when exactly was the last time you ate? Or even drink?" He looked at her for a few seconds before turning away, a hint of redness tinging his cheeks, "That's what I thought," She sighed. Without giving him a chance to complain, she grabbed his wrist and started pulling him towards the cafeteria's food vendor, "Come on, I'm not going to let you starve to death."

"But I-"

The rest of their conversation was downed out as she continued to drag him to the front. Chifuyu sighed, though a smile had flitted its way to her face. This situation was absurd, and yet here it was happening right in front of them.

Ichika followed her gaze and stared at the two "siblings". They reminded him of when he and Chifuyu were younger, when he visited her in middle school to deliver her lunch and the times they went out to relax. But these were supposedlty his kids. Not only that, but they were his and... "Chifuyu-nee, do you really think we-"

"We're not having this conversation now," She snapped sharply, "We'll talk about it one day, and at some point we'll laugh about it, but not now."

He nodded and hid a smile behind his hands. Despite her authoritative tone, he didn't miss the heavy blush on her cheeks.

* * *

><p>Odaiba shopping mall used to be a small store. Not more than 10 years ago it was an everyday generic store that people went to when they needed to buy groceries or wanted to buy discount clothes for cheap. It was their location mostly; they had nothing of interest except a few schools and most of the students favored going to the strip mall or the various restaurants strewn around the area rather than the mall itself.<p>

That was before the creation of the IS and the academy. With its close proximity to the island academy, the mall saw a surge in customer's: Teenage males hoping to meet students, students from the academy and even reps spending their money there, and foreign applicants who shopped after taking a tour of the school. Business surged. The location, what had once been the bane of their existence, ensured that they would prosper in the years to come.

It was this shopping mall that an unlikely pair found themselves lost in now.

"So, how exactly did we get here again?" Asuka asked her stoic companion, "Because I'm pretty sure we were together with mom and Laura-san when we came here first."

"The events leading up to this situation confuses me greatly as well" Celeste replied, doing her best to see through the crowd. She was silently thankful that her uniform had finished flash drying (Thank Valkyrie that washing machines were still advanced even now) right before they were forced to go here; she couldn't bear the idea of going to this crowded place while wearing a pajama that made her look like bait.

"I remember that we came here with mom and Laura-san to go shopping," Asuka recounted, "There's a sale today on clothes and mom said that we should take advantage of it."

"And Instructor Orimura brought mother with her because she asked," Celeste continued, "When we entered the mall complex, however, many people - most of them female - took notice of Instructor Orimura's presence and started crowding around her. It was at this point that we were separated from them and ended up here."

"Wherever here is," Asuka commented, giving the area around them a wide glance. It was an open area with different stores left, right and center: Clothing stores, perfume boutiques, sweet shops, arcades. Anything a person could want, really. It was probably because of that the crowd was content to ignore them and go about their business. "I remember this area somewhat. I used to live - Well, I still do live there actually - around here. The mall from my time is in the same area, so this must be before it became so big," She turned back to Celeste, "What about you? Do you recognize anything around here?"

"I wouldn't know," She replied, "I lived in Germany as far as I remember. This is my first time here in Japan, really. Its more fascinating than I had thought it would be. The sights and buildings around the area are very advanced."

"First time here? Lets hope nobody asks for an I.D," She made a took a moment to mentally remind herself that she wasn't in a better position; kid from the future wouldn't exactly fly around here, "Well, your Japanese is really good for a first-timer. Nice job, little sis," She smiled and ruffled the younger girl's hair.

"Don't...Don't call me that," Celeste shook her head from Asuka's patting, "And, naming aside, you are very adept as well. I didn't expect a foreigner to be able to speak German so well."

"...Wait, I don't speak German," Both children paused as they realized what Asuka just said, "Uh, Celeste-chan, what language are you speaking right now?"

"German, same as you," She replied honestly, "The rest of the people in our age range seem to speak it as well, although they lack an accent like you. The French boy sounds whiny, however."

"...Damn it, I was afraid of that," Asuka grit her teeth and sighed, "I thought it was odd that we were speaking so well with one another last night. I guess Aunt Tabane's experiment affected all of us more than we thought. Lets just hope we don't get the sudden urge to merge ourselves with IS by jumping into a green beam." She still had no idea what Aunt Tabane was thinking when she designed that thing.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Nevermind that," Asuka sighed, "Do you have a cellphone with you? Maybe we could call them and ask where they are. I'm not really a fan of going to the lost and found and announcing that we're looking for our parents. It would cause a controversy considering who our parents are."

"Hmm," Celeste hummed before fishing her phone out of her pocket, "If what we were told yesterday was true then I doubt my phone would work due to be incompatible with the signals from this time."

_'Well at least she's smart'_, Asuka thought mentally, relieved, "Alright, so there's nothing we can do except wait for the crowd to thin out before finding them," She shrugged, "What do you want to do? Mom gave me one of her credit cards in case I wanted to buy some food, so we should be set for the day. Anything in particular you want? Big sis will get it for you," She flashed a re-assuring smile.

"Our objective for the day was to buy clothing, was it not?" Asuka nodded, "Then should we not do our best to complete the mission while we have time? Delaying is pointless and might end up compromising the end results."

"Sure...I guess," Smile and nod, smile and nod was the motto she was currently employing. Her mother was going to be stuck in that crowd for a while and she didn't exactly want to spend all that time staring at a wall till she fought her way through. Besides how hard could it be?

As it turned out? Extremely hard.

She thought it would be easy: Get Celeste's shopping done first, do her shopping next, then meet up with her mother and Laura-san afterwards. She'd be happy, Celeste would be happy, her parents would be happy; everybody was going to be happy.

Clearly, she underestimated the wannabe soldier.

"But is the fabric resistant to both cold and heat? Only having one or the other means its compromised and thus is not worth the price we are willing to give for it." Celeste badgered again, stretching the gray turtleneck she held in her hands as far as she could reasonably go, "Also, does the material rip easily or can it withstand both natural and unnatural harm?"

"...Its machine washable, does that count?" The confused trainee answered hesitantly.

Asuka placed her palm against her face and sighed. This was NOT how she wanted to spend her shopping trip. She thought it would nice and peaceful, and maybe even fun now that she had another girl with her. She wasn't expecting the silver haired midget to start interrogating the teenage part-timer about the "practical applications in accordance to danger" of all the clothes.

"Celeste-chan, stop bothering the nice employee" She lightly chopped the younger girl on the head, "Sorry for bothering you, Ma'am. Could you please point us to the kids aisle? My little sister here needs some new clothes," The employee nodded and pointed to a few more steps to the left to the young girls section, "Thank you Ma'am. Again, I apologize for the bother."

Celeste felt dread fill her stomach as she saw the clothes filling the shelves. So much pink! It filled her eyes with their annoying brightness! Worse, she could see every ideal soldier's worst nightmares: Dresses, colored shirts with unicorns, and - Valkyrie help her - SKIRTS! Adrenaline started to circle her veins and her "Fight or Flight" response kicked in.

"We should be able to get some- Hey, what the heck are you doing!?" Asuka barely managed to keep her grip on her hand as she felt her shins getting kicked roughly, "If this is how you say thank you where you're from, stop it," She stepped back and barely missed another sweep kick, "What the heck is wrong with you!"

"I am not going there," Celeste bit out slowly through gritted teeth, "That place has clothing unfit for someone of my position."

She was beginning to get tired of that, "Celeste..." She placed a hand on each shoulder, "You. Are. Not. A. Soldier!" Every word was followed by a rough shake, "You are 8 years old and you are going to wear clothes that match your age. Am I making myself clear?"

"Y-Yes..!" She bit her lower lip nervously and nodded rapidly. As expected: Tough when she thought she was being taken seriously, but meek when called out on her stupidity. Like a typical child.

"Right, so lets actually try something that doesn't make us look like idiots," She rolled her eyes and gestured at Celeste's clothes. She might have thought it made her look intimating, but really the dark uniform and poofy pants and sleeves made her look like a kid trying to imitate an anime character she saw on T.V. Not that she could talk, given her dull gray attire. Her mother always insisted that she wear this.

Fifteen minutes later, they found themselves changing out of their clothes in a shared dressing room. It was a forced compromise; they didn't want to leave a child in a dressing room all by herself and Asuka (technically) lied about being her elder sister, so sharing was the only way they were going to get anything done.

"Hmm, I should get this in green..." Asuka grabbed the shirt from the pile and frowned at the shrimp logo, "On second thought, I'll look for something else. What about you, Celeste-chan? See anything you like?"

"Mmmm..." Celeste pouted and stared at the pile of clothes Asuka dragged into the changing room with them. While there was nothing pink as far as she could see, the kiddie designs and frilly skirts still dominated the majority of it. Where were the military uniform's? The flak jackets? She couldn't see anything she would feel safe wearing.

"Just pick something you like," Asuka urged gently, "It's not going to be the end of the world if you pick something you regret later. Try something new. You can't wear the same thing your entire life."

Why not, she nearly asked before biting her tongue. At the end of the day it didn't matter why; she was being told to do something and she was in no position to argue.

But why did these things have to be so dumb looking?

"Look, I'll pick one for you first," Asuka knelt down and sifted through the pile, looking for something that could placate her new little sister, "Okay, how about this? Its the least offensive thing in this entire pile."

Celeste observed the offered garment. It was white; opposite the color of the clothes she wore before but a neutral color nonetheless. One glance down at the lower seams and it became obvious what it was: A dress, though it was at least modest. Judging by the length, the end of it was a reasonable distance below her knees and the only part that would be exposed were her arms.

"It is...reasonable," She agreed, grabbing the clothes from her hands. With Asuka's silent urging, she turned around and began the process of changing into the new garments.

The sounds of shuffling cloth was the only sound permeating the air for the next half minute. It was only after it stopped did Asuka turn back to her companion.

"How...How does it look?" Celeste asked nervously, doing a small spin to allow Asuka to get a full view of the cloth.

Asuka gave her a look over before smiling. It looked perfect. Whatever one could say about her, she'd obviously inherited her mother's doll like cuteness. Had she not known any better, she would have assumed Celeste was a life-like doll, "Looks great on you," She grabbed her by the shoulders again and turned her towards the mirror, "See? You look great."

Celeste took a nervous breath before staring at her reflection, "This is...me?" She stared at the reflection in the mirror. She didn't look threatening or fearsome, but she didn't hate it. It reminded her of the hidden pictures her father showed her of their mother: Happy, smiling, relaxed. At home she never smiled; always so busy with operations and training. It was only in those pictures she smiled.

"Not as bad as you thought it would be, right?" A meek nod was her only reply, "Come on, we should see about buying you some jackets and pants. Do you want to look for another dress first?"

"Um, yes..." She twiddled her fingers nervously, "Could we perhaps find one in black? I...remember mother's pictures having similar dresses."

"You bet!"

* * *

><p><strong>"<strong>That was fun!" Asuka grinned and stretched her hands above her head, "Finally managed to find some clothes other than these stupid track suits. I have no idea why mom keeps focring me to wear these things.

"Mmmm," Celeste was content to mum happily to herself. Given how much she liked the dress, Asuka convinced the store employee to allow her to wear it directly after purchase. It was a bit of a hassle, but seeing the girl smiling and laughing was worth it enough for her.

"Now we just need to- Mission accomplished," Asuka's grin stretched even wider and she had to suppress a smile when she saw Chifuyu and Laura walking towards them. It wasn't that they were funny, but rather the fact that they were wearing disguises; and rather bad ones at that.

Laura wore a jersey two sizes bigger than her recommended size and a beanie on top of her head. She could've passed for a burglar.

But her mother had it worst. If she wasn't seeing this with her own two eyes, she would've dismissed it as an illusion. She was wearing a long brown trench-coat, dark sunglasses that reached up to her cheeks, and even a medical mask on her mouth. The angry aura radiated made all the passers-by immediately avoid her path.

"Where were you?" Chifuyu asked, "We looked back at where we got separated and we couldn't find you anywhere. We should buy you two cellphones while we're here as well now that I'm thinking."

"Mom," A trickle of laughter leaked out of her mouth, "Why are you wearing-"

"It was Laura's idea," She interrupted flatly, "This is why I hate going to this place; stupid teenagers who follow too many fads. The Mondo Grosso was years ago and they act like the final match happened yesterday." Despite the fact that she technically lost due to forfeiting, avid viewers still considered her the true winner of the tournament. She was unofficially known as 'The two time champion'.

"Me and Celeste-chan finished our clothes shopping while you two were distracted."

"Yes, I can see that," Laura cut in, "It appears my daughter likes her new clothes," She knelt down slightly so they could see eye-to-eye, "Remember: Civilian identities are important. Its okay to like your uniform, but there are times it is important to keep ourselves inconspicuous. You made a nice choice with that dress. It makes you look low-key."

"Thank...Thank you, mother."

"Come on, we should get out of here before people spot us," Chifuyu cut in, irritated, "We should buy some phones and then get something to eat. I know a cafe not too far from here that isn't too crowded today. That sound alright with you?" All of them gave their consent," Right, lets go then. People are starting to stare at us."

A wannabe soldier in a white dress, her super soldier mom dressed like a burglar, and her own mother looking like someone who came out of a bad mystery novel. And despite all that, she didn't feel a single regret walking alongside them.

She was going to miss this when she went back.

"Asuka, hurry up. The less time we spend here the better."

"Ah, coming!"

Better enjoy this while it lasted.

* * *

><p><strong>The smell of burning fish wafted into his noise.<strong> **Kazuma blinked slowly, staring blankly at the fire ahead. He was leaning against a large tree, the light of the fire the only thing that enabled him to see in the darkness of night.**

**"Kazuma, wake up," A figure, no older than 19 at maximum, looked up from tending the fire and smiled at him, "You're hungry too, huh? I don't blame you. We've haven't stopped running from the last place since two weeks ago.. Haven't had the chance to just sit down and relax. You like fish?"**

**Kazuma didn't reply. The figure smiled; it wasn't a surprise. In the two months they spent together, the child hadn't said a single word to him. There were times he even feared that he had died in his sleep. His breathing was so light that it was barely noticeable at times and his weight was vastly under the norm. He couldn't tell at all what went trough his mind no matter how hard he tried.**

**"We were lucky to find this forest," He continued, "Trees all around us will make it hard for them to find us even with a radar. It'll also be hard for IS to fight here without getting stuck in the branches and rootwork."**

**Again he said nothing. This was how their days went - On the run from vastly more powerful forces with him dragging Kazuma around. Kazuma never walked, he never ran, he didn't do much of anything. But he was alive, he was sure of it. When he carried him he could hear his heartbeat; when he slept he could hear his breathing. He was alive, no matter what anyone said.**

**The figure knelt down at the fire again before poking at fish with a couple of sticks, "Hey, they're done!" Flashing a happy smile, she picked off two of the fishes before walking to Kazuma's prone form, "Come on, eat while its still hot. Its not a five star meal, but it'll get us through."**

**Kazuma's eyes stared at the cooked fish before staring at the figure's face. Dark brown hair parted in the middle, deep brown eyes, and a face of Japanese descent. Just like him. Exactly like him.**

**"Come on, eat something. If you don't eat, then I don't eat" The figure continued, slightly more desperate, "You haven't eaten since yesterday and you're already getting thinner" He took hold of Kazuma's hands and guided it towards the stick, "Its easy. Just hold the stick and then bite into the fish." Kazuma's hands touched the stick...before falling limply to the ground. **

**"Haaa, damn it," He mumbled a few curses to himself before placing the fish on Kazuma's lap. The oil from the food already began to seep into his white clothes, "Kazuma, you need to eat something or you're going to die. Please, I didn't take you with me just so you could die out here, starving in the forest like an animal. You need to live, to survive."**

**No reaction. He flashed a bitter smile. He didn't know how long he could keep going like this. There wasn't much more he could do to keep Kazuma alive in his condition. He stared at the fish in his own hand before throwing it away. He couldn't eat knowing Kazuma was starving.**

**A pinging on his arm reminded him of their situation. Looking down at the white gauntlet, he sighed and stood up, "Kazuma, I have to go take care of something. Don't go anywhere, alright? I'll make sure they don't make it past."**

**Not even a nod as a reply before the figure took off to the darkness of the forest, a while light enveloping him before he was out of sight. Kazuma watched him, lifeless eyes continuing to stare at where he had disappeared to. He looked down at the fish in his lap again before raising his right hand weakly; as if he was grabbing for something.**

**"I...chi...ka..." Words, for the first time, sprang from his mouth.**

* * *

><p>"You're sure you don't want anything?" Asuka asked him again, "Just because dad's not eating for that experiment doesn't mean you don't have to either. You know that, right?"<p>

Kazuma looked down at his right hand before staring at Ichika's table again. He was talking to his sister now, oblivious to their conversation. When he saw the laughter on his face, Kazuma couldn't help but smile. Ichika was happy.

"No, its alright. If he doesn't eat, then I won't eat too."

"...You're weird, you know that?"

* * *

><p><strong>She sat there, staring at him. Her demeanor hadn't changed at all, not even when she saw him look at her with hatred in his eyes.<strong>

**"So, you made it out alive after all?" Her smile was patronizing, looking down at him as if she was superior in every way, "Well then, I suppose you're going to arrest me now? I suppose that's what your family does, capture the lawless criminals so they can face justice." She held out both her hands, as if waiting to be handcuffed. Even when she was cornered, when she had nothing left to fight with, her smug sense of betterment hadn't left her.**

**Saito looked at the scene around him with some difficulty. His vision was blurred, blood stained everything that he saw. Dead bodies, their faces locked into anguished screams, stared at him with their soulless eyes. He couldn't stomach to look at them. Their eyes were gouged out, rendering them permanently blind. The remains of burnt skin surrounded their eyes, as if showing that they had seen the depths of hell. Even their body's were decayed, being abnormally thin and looking like they hadn't been fed for days or even weeks at a time. The blood around their lips and molars said it all.**

**This woman, Justine, she had been responsible for everything. Using her beauty and riches to entice men to her. When they were desperate enough to give everything they had, to give up anything they ever possibly had to make her theirs, that's when she would strike. She would play her sick games, torture them for long periods of time for her own amusement, play her perverse games for whatever her reason was. She would make them fight against each other, try to survive brutal conditions, all while they were barely alive themselves and had nothing else to give. No food came for them, so they turned on each other.**

**And all the while she watched them, intrigued and amused.**

**This was the only time she felt something. When she played her games, when she toyed with their lives, it was the only time emotion would finally come out. Happiness, sadness, anger, none of these were familiar to her. It was only when she did these that emotions finally came: Twisted enjoyment, a perverse pleasure when she saw them struggle, and a curiosity as she watched their actions. There was no remorse, no sadness, only that.**

**Saito himself had nearly been another victim. He had been caught like a mouse in a trap. He wasn't one of her intended victims; far from it, he was here by complete accident. But he had found out the truth about her and he survived. He saw others die with nothing he could do to save them, he watched the base evil of humanity, but he survived.**

**And now he finally met her.**

**Justine looked at him with a smile, eyes urging him to move forward and get it over with. She was beautiful, he couldn't doubt that, but she was the most cruel and monstrous individual he had ever met. Her long back hair and white dress were pristine, an exact opposite of the mangled room and bodies. She looked like an oasis in the middle of a dessert.**

**But she held no promises of salvation.**

**Swallowing his blood, he made his way forward, tightening his grip on the makeshift knife he had made. Blood dripped from the tip; some of it his, some from others. She knew he wouldn't kill her. She knew the Sarashiki's, they were old friends of her family. None of them knew her secret, only he, the unfavored son.**

**"Come now, must we play this game?" She sighed, as if scolding a child, the contours of her pale lips rising up in a faint smile, "I know who you are. Your family, your life. The Sarashiki's have always upheld life and equality, no matter a person's deeds. Do your duty and finish it. We shall see if your heroism shall get you the results you desire."**

**She would be out of jail in a few months. Her family and connections guaranteed it. She...her family was important. Nothing could touch them.**

**Saito halted in front of her, looking at her with an expressionless gaze. His eyes looked at her blue irises before making their way to her outstretched hands. She wasn't resisting, she felt she had no need to. It wasn't like this was the first time this kind of thing happened. Without a hint of hesitation, he raised his hands up and held hers.**

**"...No."**

**She didn't get the chance to ask what he meant. His hands went past her own and slid to her elbow. The knife pierced her elbow, scattering her blood and staining the immaculate attire. She didn't scream, didn't get a chance to. His grip on her elbow tightened and he pulled it in the opposite direction, using the knife as a sort of makeshift winch. She couldn't bear to look at the injuries she had been dealt.**

**For the first time in her life, she felt something else. Something other than the perverse pleasure and happiness she felt when she watched her toys play her games. As she continued to stare at her exposed injury, she finally understood.**

**Fear.**

**He did the same with her right elbow, albeit slightly quicker this time. She still didn't scream, her voice was caught in her throat. The pain was unbearable. She couldn't move her arms anymore, any amount of movement at all sent spasms of pain to shoot up her mangled limbs. They weren't amputated, but maybe it would have been a mercy to her if they were.**

**"...I'm not a hero..." His voice came out in a breathless whisper, barely audible from the sound of her own rapid heartbeat, "Did you really think that you would get away? That you would be free so soon?" He gave a soft, dry laugh, "I'm not my sister, or my mother. I'm not like them."**

**She didn't reply. Tears went down the sides of her face, but she didn't reply. Part of her was fascinated why she was acting this way, but it was drowned out by the sinking feeling and dizziness she kept getting. She was afraid of him, afraid that her own self confidence had doomed her.**

**She should've made threats. Her family was well connected; her death would mean disaster for all parties involved. They had connections to Phantom Task and various IS corporations. She was supposed to be untouchable!**

**"You'll be alive, but you'll feel as if you were on of them," He gestured to the numerous corpses that were strewn across the floor, "You'll know what you've put them through, what you've put all of us through." He grabbed the back of of her long hair and pulled down, making her face look up. Her eyes stared at him, in fear of what he might do.**

**He looked at the corpses one more time before raising the knife to her eyes**.

* * *

><p>The first thing Saito realized was the smell of vomit. Blinking wearily, he looked down and realized the smell was coming from directly below him: At the toilet he was currently heaving last nights dinner on.<p>

How did he get here? He remembered sleeping and then...a vague dream. He puked again, head ringing as he continued to spew whatever he had left in his stomach. He had nothing left and yet the urge to vomit hadn't decreased in the slightest. Contrary to that, in fact, he felt an even higher urge to puke out his insides in a desperate hope to relieve himself.

Aria and his mother were still sleeping; a small blessing for him. He didn't want to explain this - he didn't even know if he could.

A few more attempts at heaving continued before he managed to finally keep the urge under control. Wiping his mouth with a roll of tissue paper, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths to try and calm his nerves. He knew the effects on this little jaunt into the abnormal would be bad, but he didn't think it was going to be like this.

"What's...going on?" He raised his right hand and observed it closely. He could still feel the sticky blood and the pinpricks from the knife, the way his body ached when he tried to force himself to move. But the injuries weren't there, at least not right now. He might get them later, maybe he got them earlier, or maybe he wouldn't get them at all.

The sound of the alarm clock ringing caused another burst of pain to spread. Muttering something that sounded vaguely Russian under his breath, he grabbed onto the toilet's edge and hoisted himself up. He was lucky enough that the vomit hadn't reached his clothing - Aria would've killed him if she found a stain.

Hands shaking, he gripped the faucet and turned, breathing a sigh of relief as the cold water crashed against his palm, "...Need to...wash up..." He placed both hands under the running water and pressed the water against his face, "Fuaaaa..." The feeling of the cold water against skin brought instant relief and washed away the small traces of vomit in around his mouth.

Shaking his head from side to side, he looked at his reflection in the mirror: Dull red eyes and pale skin framed by disheveled blue hair. He didn't know what he was expecting. Should he look younger? Older? His perception was beginning to lose itself. He needed to get it together.

"Saito~ Where are you~" Aria's voice resounded from the outside, "Come on, we need to get Sara-chan~ Mom's awake too!"

Taking one last look at himself in the mirror, he washed his face one last time before opening the door to the bathroom. Better they didn't know about this, at least until he figured out exactly what had happened. Maybe it was just a vivid dream from his imagination.

Neither really appealed to him.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Well, this update is finally done :) As of right now, the story for the next chapter will change depending on the choice. So here's where it comes to a vote.<strong>

**The next chapter will also be a paired one, but exactly which pair will be up to you guys. Two pairs to choose from: Sara and Saito/Aria or Kazuma and Usagi. The former's chapter will be focused more on humor and bonding while the latter's chapter will focus more on plot and background exposition for both them and their parents, along with information on the future's they came from. So its kind of a toss up.  
><strong>

**Think of the two segments after Asuka's as a preview. Which one are you more curious about? Saito's? Kazuma's? Neither because the story isn't that good? That'll factor in which one you choose :) **

**Note that the chapter after the next one will be a group chapter, so whoever you don't pick will have their parts in the story altered so their roles and segments come in at a later date. As of right now, the story shifts with your choices. So, do we go for comedy and family (Sara and Saito/Aria) or do we go for plot and background exposition (Usagi and Kazuma)?  
><strong>

**Although there's a pretty likely chance that no one's even reading this anymore due to the gap between updates. Ah well.**

**Now I know I didn't focus much on the parents, and I apologize for that. This is mostly because Chifuyu and Laura's s relationship is already static: The former thinks of her as a student and the latter has nothing but the utmost respect for her. This is going to be easier next chapter because the Sarashiki's still have a progressing relationship and Tabane and Ichika's relationship is barely explored in canon, so I can add more there. So once again, sorry.**

**Make your choice and I hope you enjoyed this chapter :D  
><strong>


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